Diverse group up for Australian of Year

The list of nominees for the 2017 Australian of the Year is as diverse as the country of which they are proud.

Deng Adut, who was forced to fight as a child soldier in South Sudan before escaping to Kenya and moving to Australia as a refugee in 1998, is considered the frontrunner for this year's award.

Still haunted by seeing other children being executed or dying from thirst, Mr Deng now operates a law firm in western Sydney and has written a memoir, Songs of a War Boy.

The campaigner against racism wrote that he's now as Australian as anyone else.

"Speed cameras annoy me, I call people mate when I forget their name, I like pies and schnitzels... The only real difference between you and me was that I had to fight to become Australian."

If named Australian of the Year he would be the first African-born Australian to receive the title.

Mr Deng is joined on the finalists list by Alan Tongue, an NRL champion turned youth mentor and educator (ACT), indigenous leader and businesswoman Andrea Mason (NT), mining magnate and philanthropist Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest (WA), author and health advocate Kate Swaffer (SA), refugee advocate Paris Aristotle (Vic), speech pathologist Rosalie Martin (Tas) and biomedical scientist Professor Alan Mackay-Sim (Qld).

The 2016 Australian of the Year was former chief of army David Morrison, who spent the past 12 months talking about gender equality, diversity and inclusion.

The young, senior and local hero finalists include health advocates, fashion designers, doctors, educators and community workers.

The awards will be announced at a ceremony in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra on January 25, broadcast live on the ABC from 7.30pm AEDT.