JACKIE FRENCH, AM
Author
For Jackie French, the thrill of receiving a gong on Australia Day is tinged with guilt.
The 2015 senior Australian of the year and national Children's Laureate may be one of the country's most vocal literacy advocates, but she is adamant that she is no more deserving of an Order of Australia than the many thousand others working to get young people reading and writing. 
"I think the awards are a wonderful system, but they do tend to reward the eloquent people," she said. "I'm always incredibly conscious that, in all of the areas in which I work, there are thousands of people who work far harder, far longer hours, get far fewer thanks than I do - and who don't get recognised."
French will become a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to literature as an author of children's books, and as an advocate for improved youth literacy".
The author of more than 140 books, many for children, says she became an advocate by accident, having struggled with severe dyslexia.
"I've never made a secret of the fact that I am dyslexic. It would be pretty difficult to keep it a secret," she said.
About 20 years ago, when she was giving regular talks to schoolchildren about books and reading, she began to notice certain children sit up and take notice when she talked about her condition.
Letters from students, parents, schools and, eventually, government departments began to roll in and, before she knew it, she had become a major advocate for literacy in schools.
But she says it's only in the past two years that things have started to happen.
"Two years ago, people were actually just muttering, 'Oh yes, people with dyslexia really need to be heard'. Now [we have] the realisation that [some] kids in fact have just missed out. They're not dyslexic, they don't have a major problem, they have simply missed out."