PORT Macquarie's Jess Rayner admitted to being slightly overwhelmed when she received the Young Citizen of the Year award during Australia Day celebrations.
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Currently working as a physiotherapist, the 19-year-old beat Crista Dale for the award and admitted to being surprised.
"Honestly I didn't expect it. I'm very humbled to win it though," she said.
"The worst thing I could have done was I looked up the criteria for the award and said to mum and dad 'I'm claiming runner-up'."
Through her role in the community with the Port Macquarie Surf Life Saving Club, Ms Rayner has also played a role in educating the community.
"It was mainly my surf life saving that got me over the line," she said.
"I've just taken over the secretary role there this year and did a lot last season and put in a lot of patrol hours so it's nice to be recognised for it. I did in excess of 114 hours last year and I'm on par for that again this year."
She's no stranger to winning significant awards, but said there hadn't been a history of citizen awards in the family.
"It's something I can claim over mum and dad," she said. "They're very excited for me though.
"I took out NSW Young Lifesaver of the Year last season and at a club and branch level I took out under-19 club person, under-19 patrol person and young lifesaver at branch level as well."
Ms Rayner said it was "a good feeling to stand alongside the other winners on Australia Day".
"It's also good to be recognised amongst the youth, but I'm surprised there weren't more nominations to be honest," she said.
"It's nice to get recognition for awards, but it's not about the awards when you're volunteering. You do it because you love what you do."