The 21st Annual ABC Heywire Regional Youth Summit kicks off this Sunday.

Across regional Australia 52 young people have a life-changing week ahead of them, as they get ready to make their way to Canberra for the 21st annual Heywire Regional Youth Summit on Sunday. Throughout the week they will work together on developing exciting new solutions to improve the lives of young people in regional Australia.

Travelling from places like Borroloola in NT, Naracoorte in SA and Pambula in NSW, these young people paint a diverse picture of Australia and are proof that the future is bright, loud and proud. This year’s cohort of Heywire winners tackled a range of topics like the impact of drought on Sea Lake in Victoria; what it was like campaigning for marriage equality in Ulverstone, Tasmania; starting a fish farm in Buttah Windee, WA and that’s only scraping the surface.

Heywire’s Youth Summit gives regional-Australian’s the opportunity to build on their own experiences and create the change they’d like to see in their communities. They’ll be mentored through a week of skills-building workshops and given the unique opportunity to share their ideas with Members of Parliament, Senators, community leaders – and have their stories told on the ABC.

Acting Director of ABC Regional and Local, Judith Whelan, says: “It is incredibly inspiring to see young people sharing their stories and shaping the conversations at the centre of their local communities. Every year Heywire’s competition winners go on to do exciting and important things for regional Australia and I can’t wait to hear about the ideas that come out of this year’s Summit.”

In addition to the winners, Heywire will announce 2019’s Trailblazers later this week. Heywire Trailblazers are outstanding young leaders who are already driving positive change in their regional and rural communities.