Georgia Smith didn't have an easy road to becoming Tamworth's Young Citizen of the Year.
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The sports-mad perennial volunteer beat cancer at age three. It took two years.
Barely a decade on from her leukemia diagnosis she now coaches a dizzying array of sports, helps with Camp Quality, Ronald McDonald House, and the Starlight Foundation.
"It's definitely made me stronger. When I was younger I got bullied a bit at school a bit, and that definitely made me mentally stronger, made me work more and grow up a bit quicker," she said.
"[The diagnosis] was very shocking to my family. We went into hospital one day and I was having surgery the next."
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It was the volunteers at Ronald McDonald House who helped keep the family together while she recovered in a Newcastle hospital who inspired her commitment to charity, she said.
She now spends countless hours trying to pay their generosity forward.
Her efforts were recognised at Tuesday's Tamworth Regional Council Australia Day Awards. Georgia was one of dozens to be recognised as a community leader.
The high school student said she was "glad to know that someone else sees what we do out there and it's not just my family".
"It will help me push myself a bit more, make sure I do a lot more out there and help other kids do the same - help give back," she said.
After graduating from high school Georgia wants to join the navy, or take up sports science.
Tamworth Regional Councillors and Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson issued awards to the new crop of local go-getters at the ceremony in Ray Walsh House council building.