ACCOLADES are flowing for Cedar Creek woman and child protection activist Hetty Johnston AM in 2014.
The Bravehearts founder and director was last week named a 2015 finalist in the Queensland Australian of the Year awards.
Ms Johnston is a finalist alongside Terri Irwin, Johnathan Thurston and Adam Scott.
The nomination comes just four months after Ms Johnston was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.
"It is a great honour, a huge honour, that someone feels highly enough of you to nominate you," Ms Johnston said.
"I accept this (nomination) on behalf of all the survivors of child sexual abuse, it is a great acknowledgement of how far they have come."
Ms Johnston, who founded Bravehearts in 1997, believes recognition of her work has come as part of a "cultural shift" in attitudes towards child sexual abuse.
She said huge milestone for Bravehearts was the announcement of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012.
"The media is now talking about these things," she said.
"The whole reason child sexual abuse continues is because of the culture of silence.
"The time is right for these things to change and I feel honoured and privileged to be a part of that."
More recently, Bravehearts led a new social media campaign called Who R U Protecting, in conjunction with its White Balloon Day on September 12.
"That campaign just went viral and it was not even about fundraising," Ms Johnston said.
"It was about needing everyone to engage with this issue the same way they do with breast cancer, our kids need to be high on our agenda."
The Queensland Australian of the Year will be announced on October 24.