2025
Winners 2025
Outstanding Contribution in the Interpreting Field
Winner:
Kirri Dangerfield
Dr Kirri Dangerfield has made an outstanding contribution to Auslan–English interpreting through over two decades of professional practice, research and leadership. Her PhD advanced understanding of team interpreting and practitioner support, creating a framework now influencing training and reflective practice across the field. She has published and presented widely, sharing her insights nationally and internationally. Kirri has also strengthened interpreter education, leading the redevelopment of Monash University’s mental health interpreting course, and has served in key professional roles with ASLIA and AUSIT. Her work has had lasting impact on both interpreters and the communities they serve.
Dr Dangerfield is a role model in the interpreting profession, demonstrating excellence through her integrity, collaboration, and commitment to growth. She inspires colleagues by modelling reflective practice, mentoring emerging interpreters, and advancing professional standards through research and leadership. Her service with ASLIA and AUSIT, and her development of mental health training resources, show her dedication to strengthening the field. By bridging practice and scholarship, Kirri embodies the values of excellence, making a lasting impact on interpreters and the communities they serve.
Outstanding Contribution in the Interpreting or Translation Field in Tier C and D Languages (Languages of Limited Diffusion)
Winner:
Olena Radievska
Since the outbreak of the full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Olena has become a leading figure in Ukrainian–English language services in Australia, supporting the refugee community and national and international institutions. Her interpreting has been entrusted by the ABC, AFP, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Foundation House, and global media and humanitarian organisations. Her translation work has preserved the voices of Ukrainian defenders, poets, and victims of war. In 2025, she co-developed and began teaching the first Ukrainian T&I stream at RMIT University, shaping the next generation of Ukrainian interpreters and translators to amplify Ukraine’s voice in the world.
Olena’s contribution exemplifies commitment and leadership in the Tier C/D category. She has responded to urgent community and institutional needs with professionalism, compassion and innovation, contributing to the professionalisation and visibility of Ukrainian T&I in Australia. These contributions go beyond individual assignments and establish lasting capacity for the field of Ukrainian T&I, creating pathways for aspiring practitioners and ensuring that Ukrainian voices are heard, understood and represented with integrity across languages and cultures.
Outstanding Contribution to Capacity-Building in the Translation and/or Interpreting Field
Winner:
Liying (Lynn) Geng
Lynn has made outstanding contributions to the T&I field through her extensive work in promoting interpreter awareness and professional standards. She has presented at numerous national conferences and delivered training sessions to judicial officers, lawyers and T&I professionals across Australia. Lynn’s work has been instrumental in highlighting the challenges interpreters face and advocating for fairer, more informed practices within the justice system. Her efforts have strengthened collaboration between interpreters and legal professionals, improving the quality of communication and access to justice for linguistically diverse communities nationwide.
Lynn teaches legal interpreting at the University of Queensland, mentors interpreters, and delivers training on how to work effectively with interpreters in legal settings, promoting the application of the Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals.
2023
Winners 2023
Outstanding Contribution to Interpreting
Winner:
Xiaoxing (Amy) Wang
Amy is a conference interpreter, a consummate professional and an excellent role model. She has demonstrated her commitment to the profession over many years, serving on AUSIT’s NSW Branch Committee in various capacities. At the national level Amy has been a hard-working PD co-ordinator and National PD Vice President, sourcing quality professional development initiatives that continue to benefit practitioners across Australia.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Liying (Lynn) Geng
Lynn Geng is one of the first Certified Specialist Interpreters in Australia in both health and legal interpreting. She has provided training for interpreters and mentored interpreters working in the legal area who need to gain experience and confidence. She has also provided sessions to the AAT on how to work with interpreters. Lynn Geng is dedicated to her profession and always strives for excellence in interpreting services, as demonstrated by her high NAATI credentials.
Outstanding Contribution to Translation
Winner:
Mecia Freire
One of the first accredited Portuguese translators in Australia, Mecia remains highly respected in the sector. Noted among other things for her generosity and availability to advise and support those new to the profession and for her engaging workshop presentations, she is described as the ‘matriarch’ of Portuguese translators. This industry respect is reflected in Mecia receiving more nominations than any other candidate in any category for these Excellence Awards.
Outstanding Leadership in the Profession and/or raising the profile of Translators and Interpreters in the Community
Winner:
Cintia Lee
Cintia is a Spanish translator and conference interpreter who has been a leading figure in the profession for many years, with a passion for helping others. She has contributed significantly to AUSIT’s Professional Development Committee and is currently serving in the NSW branch. Cintia works tirelessly to improve the working conditions of court interpreters in particular, including the implementation of the Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals.
Joint runners-up, highly commended:
Silvia Martinez, Patricia Avila
Silvia has been active in AUSIT for many years, and has made an important contribution as National Treasurer. She is a great advocate for the profession and a certified specialist legal interpreter. As a trainer at Multicultural NSW she seeks to inspire other interpreters to use the Recommended National Standards and best practice in courts and tribunals. She has also made presentations to lawyers about the RNS and is an outstanding role model for practitioners. Silvia has devoted countless hours to making this conference a success.
Patricia is another very keen advocate for interpreters, actively engaging in countless meetings and events where interpreter issues are discussed and making sure our voices are heard. She has been instrumental in raising awareness among a wide range of Queensland stakeholders about the issues facing interpreters, and was key in getting the QLD Interpreter Satisfaction Survey off the ground by bringing together people who could make this happen. Patricia also devotes a great deal of time to training practitioners and promoting best practice.
Outstanding Contribution to Capacity Building
Winner:
Fatih Karakas
Fatih has been evaluating and preparing for current and future needs of the profession since 2020, developing and producing PD in the form of Conversations, the only podcast dealing specifically with Australian T&I content. His interviews with lecturers, practitioners and industry personalities, including legal practitioners and health professionals, are informative and inspiring. These podcasts also contribute to documenting the history of translation and interpreting in Australia.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Rema Nazha
As Manager of Panel and Industry Development in MNSW Language Services, Rema was the key person working with stakeholders to develop and deliver short courses for MNSW interpreters and translators. This free program has continued to develop and is now an established offering covering skills and ethics training, knowledge of specialised fields and special events, and since participating practitioners don’t work exclusively for MNSW, its benefits extend to the rest of the industry as well. Rema has also been an important advocate for the NSW Interpreter Scholarship Program. While not a practitioner herself, she cares deeply about the provision of good quality languages services, has engaged at all levels of the industry and is a champion for the work of interpreters and translators in community settings.
Outstanding Contribution to Interpreting and Translation: Working with Languages of Limited Diffusion (LLDs)
Winner:
The Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS).
There were several worthy nominees in this category, but the AIS was chosen in particular for its work with Northern Territory health professionals on the Plain English Health Dictionary, developed over two years and launched in June 2023. The aim of the dictionary is to facilitate better communication between First Nations people and health service providers, and it could potentially serve as a model for resources in other languages, especially LLDs.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Janet Lor
Janet is one of the three Recognised Practising Interpreters for the Hmong language in Australia, and is considered the most active in the industry. An interpreter since 2019, she is highly regarded for her work helping members of the Hmong community in medical, legal, court, tribunal and business settings, working mostly for the Queensland Government. She has also conducted sessions promoting awareness of the Hmong language and culture.
2018
Winners 2018
Excellence in Interpreting
Winners:
Chin Communications Team – Charles Qin, Xin Jin & John Zhou, for their work on the ANZSOG project.
Runners-up, highly commended:
MaryJane Kwon, for facilitating communications between NT Beverages and Jace, a South Korean firm.
Excellence in Literary Translation
Winners:
James Grieve (French language), for the entire body of work; Kevin Windle (Multiple languages), for the entire body of work.
Outstanding Contribution to Translating and Interpreting
Winners:
Anna Kenny, for the lasting impact her training has had on the quality of interpreter services.
Outstanding Contribution to T&I Working with Languages of Limited Diffusion
Winners:
No entry received.
2013
Winners 2013
Excellence in Interpreting
Winners:
Chin Communications Team – Charles Qin, Joseph Li Tu & Bruce Leifu Song, for their work on the Dairy Australia Greater China Scholarship Program; Yveline Piller & John Benson, for their work on the Australia-Africa Partnership Facility project.
Excellence in Translation
Winner:
Catherine Manning Muir, for translating into English one of the earliest examples of pre-independence Indonesian literature: Hikayat Siti Mariah (The Saga of Siti Mariah).
Runner-up, highly commended:
Elizabeth Meister (German language), for her work on Cate Shortland’s multi-award-winning feature film Lore.
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry
Winner:
SBS Subtitling and PPU Preparation, for their ground-breaking deployment of LOTE subtitles in programs aimed to speak directly to multiple generations of multilingual Australians about important social issues.
Outstanding Contribution to Indigenous Interpreting
Winner:
Industrial & General (I&G) Pty Ltd, for the use of portable VOIP recording technology through regional and remote Australia which resulted in significant gains for Indigenous interpreting and translation.
2011
Winners 2011
Excellence in Interpreting
Winner:
Xin Jin (Mandarin language), for leading the interpreting team at the Australian Pavilion, World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
Runners-up, highly commended:
Nadesan Sundaresan (Tamil language), for a series of interpreting assignments in a detention facility for asylum seekers; Rona Zhang (Mandarin language), for interpreting at the Australian Pavilion, World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
Excellence in Translation
Winner:
Dalia Matar (Arabic language), for translating and subtitling work on the award-winning SBS Dateline program Iraq’s Deadly Legacy.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Rekha Rajvanshi for the translation from English into Hindi of Dreaming Stories – Australian indigenous oral histories rendered as animations.
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry
Winner:
Transcultural & Language Service (TALS) Department at Northern Health (Vic), for its centralised language service model and transcultural training for Northern Health staff in how better to work with interpreters.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Sign Language Communications (SLC) (NSW), for the ‘John Ferris Interpreter Internship’, pairing newly accredited Auslan interpreters with experienced mentors.
Outstanding Contribution to Indigenous Interpreting
Winner:
TAFE SA, for the Diploma of Interpreting course designed specifically for Anangu-speaking students living in remote communities in South Australia.
2009
Winners 2009
Excellence in Interpreting
Winner:
Mona Jabbour (Arabic language), for interpreting between counsellors and traumatised asylum seekers and refugees.
Excellence in Translation
Winner:
Suzan Piper (Indonesian language), for her translation and subtitling of the award-winning documentary The Burning Season.
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry
Winner:
Queensland Health Multicultural Services, for the Queensland Health Interpreter Service Model.
Outstanding Contribution to Indigenous Interpreting
Winner:
Kimberley Interpreting Service (KIS), for the development and implementation of a multi-faceted professional development plan and interpreters’ handbook.
2007
Winners 2007
Excellence in Interpreting
Winners:
Shaperai Jallya (Dari and Farsi languages), for interpretation in court proceedings for a man with mental health problems; JC Lloyd-Southwell (Spanish and several other languages), for simultaneous court and conference interpreting at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague.
Excellence in Translation
Winner:
Marc Orlando, for translation into French of an 11,000-word feature article on the war in Iraq written in English by Jon Stephens, published in Metro magazine. The translation won the 2006 International Prize for War Correspondents in Bayeux.
Runner-up, highly commended:
Victor Xu (Mandarin language), for interpreting a series of training sessions for Chinese government officials on income modelling and forecasting as part of the World Wide Project Management Services initiative for the China-Australia Governance Program.
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry
Winner:
SBS Subtitling Unit, for developing innovative procedures in subtitling.
Runners-up, highly commended:
Merril Clayton, for translating from German a series of medical documents; Sue Jollow, for translating from Chinese of insurance documents relating to a multi-million-dollar wind power project.
Honorary Award
Winner:
Terry Chesher, for her outstanding contribution to translation and interpreting through her work on the professional development programme for AUSIT NSW.
Runners-up, highly commended:
NABS (National AUSLAN Interpreter Payment and Booking Service), for its interactive interpreter training resources; NSW Multicultural Health Communication Services and I&G Media, for their joint submission: Can Creativity Be Translated – Towards Good Practice in Translating Radio Commercials – The Emphysema Test containing the innovative approach in developing guidelines to ensure that script translations matched the original creative talent.
2005
Winners 2005
Excellence in Interpreting
Winners:
Vannessa Hearman and Liang Joo Leow (Indonesian language), for their simultaneous interpreting for Channel Seven of the Corby verdict from Denpasar on a live news feed – first time ever in Australia.
Runners-up, highly commended:
Charles Qin (Mandarin language), for simultaneous interpreting as part of the inaugural visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao; Christoula Nicolaou (Greek language), for interpreting work at the Melbourne Greek Film Festival 2005; Vera Oujaimi (Arabic language), for a series of interpreting assignments with Victoria Police.
Excellence in Translation
Winner:
David Holm (Chinese languages/dialects), for annotated translations and transcriptions of Zhuang cosmological texts in the book Killing a Buffalo for the Ancestors (published by Southeast Asia Publications, Northern Illinois University, 2003).
Runners-up, highly commended:
Victoria Jourdan, for the translation into Spanish of the 88-page guidebook Crystal Oracle – Guidance from the Heart of the Earth; Leviseda Bun Douglas, for translation into Khmer of published information for the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service.
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry
Winner:
The Victorian Department of Education & Training for the Talking in Tune – a Guide to Working with Interpreters in Schools package (video, hard copy guide and user notes).
Runners-up, highly commended:
Victorian Deaf Society (VicDeaf), for their Auslan Interpreter professional development programme; The Victorian Department of Justice’s Diversity Issues Unit; for its Justice Online Directory for Justice Information; Melbourne Metropolitan Ambulance Service, for making their 4 Steps for Life CPR programme available in languages other than English.
2004
Winners 2004
Outstanding Contribution to the Translating and Interpreting Industry Small team/individual, winner:
LOTE Marketing, for the talking book Every Child is Important - part of the Australian Childhood Foundation’s campaign – managing the translation of the content into seven languages.
Organisation winner:
All Graduates, for introducing an online interpreter booking system: a first in Australia.
Organisation, highly commended:
Web Communications Unit of the Victorian Department of Human Services, for creating a Health Translations Online Directory.
Honorary Award
Winner:
David Connor (multiple languages), for lifetime achievement as one of the institute’s founding members and former AUSIT Vic/Tas office-bearer who for many years served the translating and interpreting industry in a variety of roles.
