Prime Minister Julia Gillard has named Robogals founder Marita Cheng as Young Australian of the Year for 2012. The award was presented on the eve of Australia Day on the steps of Parliament House in Canberra.

In Marita's acceptance speech, she put the national spotlight on the gender imbalance in engineering, saying, "Less than 10% of engineers in Australia are women, and only 14% of engineering students are female."

The award highlights the importance of addressing diversity in the engineering profession and the shortage of engineers in Australia generally. Marita stressed the need to engage children with robotics programmes from a young age, so that they will "not just be consumers of technology, but also creators of technology". Robogals has delivered robotics workshops to over 3,000 students across Australia since 2008.

Marita also noted the invaluable contributions of the volunteers in the organisation, saying, "I would like to acknowledge all the people who have made Robogals what it is today because we could only have achieved this with all of us working together."

The Young Australian of the Year award recognises a young person between the ages of 16 and 30 who has demonstrated remarkable achievement, made a significant contribution to Australia, and is an inspirational role model to the Australian community. It is awarded together with its sister awards, Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, and Australia's Local Hero in a live-to-air television event on the eve of Australia Day to an audience of over one million people. Past recipients have included solo round-the-world sailor Jessica Watson (2011), Make Poverty History concert organiser Hugh Evans (2004), champion Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe (2000), and Emotiv CEO Tan Le (1998).

Among the recipients of the 2012 Australian of the Year Awards are Murrunga Island elder Laurie Baymarrwangga (Senior Australian of the Year), NSW foster parent Lynne Sawyers (Australia’s Local Hero), and Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush (Australian of the Year).

Marita intends to leverage her award to promote women in engineering, as well as the need to address the engineer shortage in Australia across both genders, and to encourage Australian innovation and entrepreneurship.

Videos:

• 3-minute video package about Marita shown during the awards broadcast
• Marita interviewed on ABC News Breakfast
• Marita interviewed on Sunrise
• The full awards broadcast (1 hour, including other awards)