Do You Know a
Quiet Changemaker?
presents
The 2025 Azra Ahmed Award
She doesn’t seek the spotlight, but still inspires. Could she be the one you know?
Nomination closes on October 15, 2025
Who was Azra?
Azra was a legendary community activist and organiser. If you have the privilege of using the lift at Arncliffe train station, you should know that Azra was the key leader who drove the campaign to make it happen. Motivated by her own health struggles, climbing the station’s stairs, she took it upon herself to mobilise community members and gain organisational support. After years of persistent advocacy, she saw to it that the Arncliffe lift became a reality.
Azra was also one of the founding members of the Pakistani Australian Women’s Association. She voluntarily undertook pioneering work addressing domestic violence within South Asian communities and directly supported several women in escaping dangerous and precarious situations.
A climate justice champion, Azra was a valued leader of Voices for Power, a migrant-led climate justice movement. She was seen at the 2019 Sydney School Strike for Climate, proudly holding a placard handwritten in Urdu, expressing her commitment to the environment, grounded in her faith in Islam.
Despite her many achievements, Azra remained grounded in humility, patience, and quiet determination. She never sought the recognition or accolades that often accompany public activism. Azra passed away on 24th August 2020, but her legacy lives on through the systems she helped transform and the many lives she touched directly with care and solidarity.
Who are we looking for?
A Muslim woman from Sydney, aged 18 to 30, from the Indian subcontinent, with lived experience as a first-generation migrant.
What are we looking for in this person?
We’re looking for someone who embodies the quiet strength and values that Azra lived by: a silent changemaker whose impact may not come with accolades, but whose intention to make a difference is clear.
This is not about big achievements. It’s about potential. We want to walk along side someone with the courage, kindness, and resilience to stand up for others, especially those often overlooked.
Someone who champions education, uplifts the invisible, and leads through quiet, consistent action.
The kind of person who doesn’t seek the spotlight but still manages to inspire. The most unlikely activist, and the one we need the most.
How does the nomination process work?
• Any individual or representative of an organization can make a nomination.
• The relationship between the nominee and the nominator must be declared.
• The nominee should consent to the nomination.
• The nomination will need to be endorsed by a person in a public role who is familiar with the nominee.
• No self-nominations.
• The nomination closes on October 15.
• If you know someone who fits the description of the person we are looking for, fill out the nomination form.
What does the award include?
The award will include a certificate and a special recognition package presented at the award night, honouring Azra’s legacy. This package will feature a scholarship for a set of training sessions, tailored capacity- building programs, and pairing with a mentor in a field chosen by the awardee.
The total value of the award package exceeds $5,000.
Testimonials of Azra’s Legacy
Shane , Voices for Power
Azra always greeted me with such love and kindness. Even though we came from very different backgrounds she was endlessly encouraging of me to be the best version of myself. Azra had such passion for her community and strong sense of justice that she forever shaped my values I use everyday. Her life was a dedication to community and friendship, and I'm previleged to have known her in a small way.
Ayesha, Azra’s Daughter
Ammi (Mom) was very courageous; she would always get up and say what she needed to, even when the rest of us felt intimidated. If she decided on something, she pursued it with full dedication.
She was always trying to help any person she could, anywhere she was. I remember that when we were in Madina, we often lost track of her each day, and she had found someone to help, and we'd find her standing with someone in a wheelchair who needed help getting back to their hotel. She would make ginger tea in a thermos and keep giving it out to anyone who was coughing in the masjid. She would keep food in her bag and hand it out to people.
Her phone literally never stopped ringing.
There was always some lady needing help or advice, calling her, I used to wonder how she ever got anything done in her life with so many people demanding her attention.
I met so many people after her death who had been fed or helped by her that I didn't even know about, people I had never met and had no idea that she had been helping them. These quiet, everyday acts of service reflected the same determination she brought to her campaigns and community leadership.
Misbah, Azra’s Husband
There are moments in a man’s life when he contemplates the wisdom of God’s decision to pair him with his wife. In my own case, I have always considered myself unworthy of being paired with the angelic soul that Azra was. In the 44 years we spent together, not once did she give me a reason to regret God’s choice.
My work took me to several cities across seven countries. Azra would relocate without hesitation, often with young children in tow, never showing the slightest sign of complaint or discomfort. While I toiled at work to provide for our family, she quietly made each new place her own, seeking out underprivileged families in our neighborhood and helping them, often without anyone knowing. She would always save from the household budget to assist the families and others in need. This was her routine wherever we went, a habit rooted in her deep compassion.
When we arrived in Sydney in the late 1990s, she discovered that her Bachelor’s degree from Pakistan was not recognized here. Determined to improve her credentials, she enrolled in the TPC program at TAFE and completed it with a score high enough for entry into a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sydney. She completed her degree with distinction and went on to earn a Master’s in Adult Education from the University of Technology Sydney, a field close to her heart. This was a testament to her determination and perseverance once she set her mind to something.
During all this time, she remained active in the community, connected to the Migrant Resource Centre and assisting new migrants as well as women facing domestic violence.
In 2003, Azra was diagnosed with Wegener’s Granulomatosis (WG), a rare autoimmune disease so uncommon that it took specialists three months to identify it. By then, 15% of both her lungs had been damaged. She underwent prolonged chemotherapy and intensive treatment, and although she eventually went into remission, she required the ongoing care of multiple specialists at St George Hospital. Through it all, she kept smiling and rarely let us see how much she was suffering inside.
On the advice of her doctors, she was granted the Disability Support Pension, as she could no longer walk long distances.
In the winter of 2020, she contracted a severe lung infection, which progressed to Pulmonary Fibrosis. On 24th August 2020, she left this mortal world for her heavenly abode.
Next month will mark five years since her passing, yet I still feel her presence and her aura around me every day.
