Tamworth's Jody Ekert and Walcha's Anna Barwick finalists for NSW Regional Woman of the Year Award

Should either of them win, they will be in the running to be named the overall NSW Woman of the Year.

For Ms Ekert, her incredible efforts run well beyond just the last 12 months, having developed popular community group Tamworth True and shone a spotlight on the LGBTQI community.

"Over the past 12 to 18 months my whole life has been volunteer work of one type or another, or with community events here," she said.

"That's in supporting the town through the pandemic with founding a group called Tamworth True, and also I've been pushing for visibility and recognition for our LGBTQI+ community here outside the cities," she said.

Ms Ekert said it gave her a lot of pride to see that, out of four finalists for the Regional Woman of the Year award, two were from New England North West.

"I think that is fabulous, I am a bit bias, I moved up here almost nine years ago now and I love this region, so to see the two of us recognised in the awards is amazing."

She said it was great to see regional women being celebrated more broadly, and it really brings home the fact their efforts are being recognised beyond their own social circle.

Ms Barwick's efforts are certainly being felt elsewhere, with the pharmacist largely being rewarded for her founding of PharmOnline.

The online telehealth service helped connect people with experienced pharmacists during the pandemic, which played a crucial role in keeping people safe and informed. That achievement also led to Ms Barwick being recognised as the 2021 Pharmacist of the Year, as named by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

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On top of that, she is a mentor in the Country to Canberra program, which promotes leadership in senior female high school students and is completing a PhD at the University of New England. There's seemingly only one thing Ms Barwick can't do, which is explain how she finds time for all of her activities.

"I do it with difficulty, I have a lot of support, obviously in my local community of Walcha I have a great support network there," she said.

"And great family and friends and work colleagues that help support me to juggle all of those roles, along with being a mum and property owner and all of those types of things.

"For me, it's ensuring I make time for the things I'm passionate about and fortunately that's all to do with rural health care and pharmacy and creating new ways of getting healthcare to people in the country."

Winners will be announced on March 9, at the 2022 NSW Women of the Year Awards at the International Convention Centre Sydney and livestreamed online.

The awards are part of NSW Women's Week from Monday, March 7 to Sunday, March 13.

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