<p> Billee-Jo Walz grew up on her family's cattle property near Mackay, where she developed a passion for learning, a strong work ethic and a deep respect for doing every job safely and correctly the first time. Those values have shaped her career as a Linesperson with Energy Queensland, where she completed her four-year apprenticeship and was named Apprentice of the Year. Though still fresh in her career, she has already made an impressive start. <br> <br> Her journey is one of real personal growth. When she joined her Mackay work group as a shy teenager fresh to the industry, Billee-Jo found it hard to speak up and had a deep-seated aversion to working at heights. She sought guidance from her Work Group Leader and took every opportunity to build her confidence. Today she leads Toolbox Talks and directs experienced crew members, many of whom have worked in the industry longer than she has been alive. <br> <br> Shortly after qualifying, Billee-Jo was entrusted with leading one of three work groups upgrading two kilometres of network along a busy highway corridor. Working alongside crews led by more senior colleagues, she oversaw the replacement of twelve power poles and almost two kilometres of powerline without incident or defect, exceeding her Work Group Leader's expectations. <br> <br> A strong advocate for continuous improvement, Billee-Jo values post-job debriefs and openly discusses what could be done better, helping drive practical improvements in how her team works. Colleagues describe her positive attitude as infectious, and she leads with humility and respect. <br> <br> She is equally committed to the next generation. Through Energy Queensland's Women in Non-Traditional Roles (WINTOR) network, she supports young women entering a male-dominated workplace, and she has been selected to help assess the upcoming apprentice intake. She is also exploring pathways into training so she can help prepare future apprentices. </p> <p> <span class="color-tertiary"> <br> As her nomination puts it, Billee-Jo is proving "there is no obstacle too great, whether on the ground or at the top of a power pole." </span> <br> <br> Young, resilient and already leading from the front, Billee-Jo is a role model for those following in her footsteps, and a leader the industry will be watching closely. <br> </p>

<p>Connor Hillcoat is a fourth-year Powerline apprentice at SA Power Networks and the recipient of the company's Playford Medal for Apprentice of the Year. Highly respected for his leadership, humility and commitment to safety, Connor has already made a lasting mark on how his depot plans and carries out its work. <br><br>As his depot's Health and Safety Representative, Connor quickly put ideas into action, launching a rolling safety survey accessed by QR code so every team member had a voice. The suggestions it generated have led to a number of proactive safety improvements. <br><br>He also designed and implemented an Apprentice Supervision Matrix, now an invaluable tool for allocating staff to large projects, ensuring the right mix of skills and experience on every job. Connor played a key role in reviewing confined space work practices, helped develop a new approach to handling and disposing of lead cable waste, and led the rollout of a Fatal Hazard and Critical Control program that encourages open conversation about risk on every task. <br><br>Connor has stepped into specialist 66kV maintenance support work to build his team's capability, and is the lead voice for his apprentice cohort, representing their perspectives on committees, in working groups and at senior levels of the business. He also helps organise social events and fundraising, including raising $10,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation through the World's Greatest Shave. <br><br>While working full-time and raising a young child, Connor is in the second year of a Construction Project Management degree. He promotes energy careers at expos and volunteers as a youth mentor with the Sammy D Foundation, which helps young people make positive life choices. <br><br>When SA Power Networks' CEO presented Connor with his medal and asked where he saw his career heading, Connor cheekily replied that he hoped to one day be the person presenting it. His advice to fellow apprentices sums up his approach: <br><br><span class="color-tertiary">"Be 1% better every day. Look for opportunities. Don't be afraid to get involved." </span><br>Confident, relatable and always ready to step up, Connor is a natural ambassador for the industry and a leader well beyond his years of experience. <br></p>

<p>Lia Mavrias joined AusNet in February 2024 through its highly competitive Graduate Program. She quickly built a reputation for professionalism and high-quality work, and was a finalist for AusNet's Young Professional of the Year in 2024. Promoted to Engagement Specialist in September 2025, she has since become a trusted adviser on some of AusNet's most important community engagement programs. <br><br>Lia led engagement for AusNet's 2027-32 Transmission Revenue Reset and, in 2026, took on managing AusNet's Customer Consultative Committee, widely regarded as one of the most impactful customer committees in the energy sector. External stakeholders, including government, now approach AusNet to test their ideas with the committee, and Lia helps build open, constructive dialogue between community representatives, customers and business leaders on complex issues. <br><br>Rather than specialise in a single discipline, Lia has deliberately built expertise across engagement, customer research and communications, areas increasingly important to the sector's future. After moving into customer research in late 2025, she rapidly progressed to leading major programs, including the Transmission Landholder Survey and GridView Customer Survey, with her findings directly informing improvements to the GridView platform. She has also helped lift the visibility and use of customer satisfaction data across the business. <br><br>Lia also helped transform AusNet's Delivering for Customers Report into a more accessible publication, and co-developed a new stakeholder eNewsletter that keeps stakeholders engaged between major consultations. <br><br>Beyond her role, Lia is Vice-Chair and Treasurer of AusNet's Early Career Network, supporting the development of emerging professionals and building connections with early career peers across other networks. She has represented AusNet at Energy Charter events, contributing to industry conversations on customer outcomes and bringing new ideas back to the business, and is part of AusNet's Incident Management Team roster. <br><span class="color-tertiary">As her nomination observes, Lia "represents a new generation of energy industry professionals who recognise that the challenges of the energy transition are not only technical, but also social, behavioural and customer focused."</span><br> <br><br>With her ability to connect customers, stakeholders and decision-makers, and leadership grounded in trust rather than authority, Lia is already demonstrating the capability and mindset that will help define the future of the sector. <br></p>

<p>Rita Bu is a Senior Electrical Engineer and Team Leader in Transgrid's Transmission Line Design and Cables team. She began her career straight out of Beijing University, and her experience spans electrical design projects from distribution networks through to 500kV transmission lines. <br><br>Rita joined Transgrid as a Design Manager on HumeLink, the major 500kV project connecting Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle through around 365 kilometres of new transmission lines. She took full ownership of the line fittings workstream, coordinating overseas testing laboratories, suppliers and internal teams. Her persistence and technical leadership helped deliver multi-million-dollar savings and significantly reduced delivery risk for the project and energy consumers. <br><br>Today, Rita leads a team responsible for major projects and new cable developments across Transgrid and Lumea, including projects supporting growing data centre demand. Where Transgrid once handled around one cable project a year, there are now four data centre applications underway. In response, Rita has grown the cable design team from one engineer to six in just 12 months, building a team of young engineers whose advice is now trusted across the business. She has also initiated a new pre-approved supplier list to reduce the risk of project delays. <br><br>Rita is also helping bring new technology to Australian networks. She is the sole contributor to the new CIGRE international study committee on high temperature low sag (HTLS) conductors, which can nearly double the capacity of existing transmission lines, representing Transgrid and the wider Australasian region. She also sits on the panel revising AS 7000, the standard for overhead line design, and is advocating for greater extra-high-voltage cable testing capability in Australia. <br><br>At the recent CIGRE conference in Paris, Rita secured support from major cable manufacturers to train Transgrid's next generation of cable designers, with the first session already delivered. <br><span class="color-tertiary"><br>As her nomination notes, Rita has "positioned the team as a leading source of expertise in the Australian cable industry."</span><br><br>With deep technical expertise, a talent for building teams and a focus on the future grid, Rita is a leader shaping how Australia's transmission network grows. <br></p>

<p>Tom Godsall is an Engineering Team Leader at Western Power, where his technical excellence and calm, empowering leadership are helping deliver complex transmission projects that support Western Australia's energy transition. Tom joined as a graduate engineer in 2020 and progressed rapidly, leading transmission customer project activities within two years, moving into a senior role in 2023 and being promoted to lead an engineering team in October 2024. <br><br>Tom has played a vital role in connecting major developments to the network, including Synergy's King Rocks Wind Farm and Covalent's Bounty Mine. He supported planning studies as King Rocks grew from a 40-megawatt application to an intended 103-megawatt connection, with solutions such as dynamic line ratings making greater use of existing assets and avoiding a costly rebuild. <br><br>Tom also headed the scoping and planning power system studies for Clean Energy Link - North, which will help enable around 1,000 megawatts of new renewable generation, including the 460-megawatt Parron Wind Farm. He contributed to the Transmission Infrastructure Plan developed with Energy Policy WA, helping shape inputs on future demand and cost-efficient transmission expansion. <br><br>He has made a significant contribution to updating the Generator Performance Standards in Western Australia's Electricity System and Market Rules, creating a pathway for emerging grid-forming inverter technologies to demonstrate their capability and connect where conventional inverters face stability challenges, protecting system security while opening the grid to new solutions. <br><br>As a leader, Tom prioritises the growth of those around him, challenging less experienced engineers with complex problems while backing them with support. He is known for explaining technical topics in plain language, staying constructive in challenging conversations with stakeholders such as AEMO, and building a high-performing, cohesive team. He is also active in recruitment, graduate development and specialist technical training.</p><p> <br><span class="color-tertiary">As his nomination observes, Tom "owns problems that lack a clear answer and sparks discussions that will achieve a solution."</span><br><br>A member of Engineers Australia since 2021 with a strong commitment to continual learning, Tom combines pragmatic judgement, strategic thinking and genuine humility. He is building the infrastructure, and the people, that Western Australia's energy future will depend on. <br></p>

<p>Georgia Conechado is an early-career renewable engineer in Transmission Planning at Ausgrid. Three years into her professional career, she joined through Ausgrid's Graduate Program, gaining broad experience across the network. Georgia is passionate about building a more equitable energy future, particularly through the integration of renewable and distributed energy resources. <br><br>As a first-year graduate, Georgia investigated possible protection maloperation after consecutive trips on parallel feeders. By overlaying lightning-strike data on the network, she provided evidence that lightning contributed to one trip, introducing a new fault-investigation technique that she turned into a work instruction for the wider team. <br><br>In Transmission Planning, she modified a Python script to streamline modelling of the Sydney network for system strength studies, and completed area plans for the Upper North Shore and Newcastle that were praised by senior management. Today, she is assessing renewable inverter-based resources against the National Electricity Rules and examining how high levels of battery storage will affect the distribution network. <br><br>A standout achievement was winning a competitive CIGRE Next Generation Network scholarship as one of only five successful applicants. Her research explored how renters who cannot install rooftop solar or batteries could share more fairly in the energy transition. Georgia presented at the CIGRE Australia Conference, then brought the learning back to Ausgrid through a workshop for graduates and engineers. She also coaches new graduates and shares development opportunities with her peers. <br><br>Georgia's influence extends well beyond her technical work. She helped create GradHub, a central space for graduates to share opportunities, and received the Graduate Peer of the Year Award in recognition of her inclusivity, collaboration and leadership. She leads Ausgrid's Pride Employee Resource Group, contributes to the Race and Gender Balance groups, and was part of the working group that developed Ausgrid's Gender Affirmation process. <br><span class="color-tertiary"><br>As her nomination describes it, Georgia "demonstrates leadership through action rather than position and her short time in the organisation has left a positive footprint on collaboration and culture."</span><br><br>Combining technical curiosity with a strong sense of social responsibility, Georgia is helping shape an energy sector that is safe, sustainable, inclusive and accessible for all. <br></p>