No worthy human found; Australia daily names horse as ‘Australian of the year’

Canberra, Jan 29: No human being was found worthy to be named as the country's best personality for the year and an Australian newspaper decided to name a racehorse as the "Australian of the year" for 2018 for showing hard work, honesty and grit, reported AFP.

The Sydney-based Daily Telegraph could not find idols and role models from fields like sports, politics, art and culture even after extensive research and ultimately zeroed in on a racehorse called Winx.

"Has the nominee lived by the Australian values of fair play and civility?" the newspaper asked and shared a list of qualities required to qualify for the prestigious title.

Winx is an accomplished racer, having won several races and awards in its career and is expected to retire in some time. According to the daily, the horse was the only one to have met its criteria.

The announcement of Winx's name was made a day before the award ceremony on January 26, which is celebrated as Australia Day.

There were in all eight nominees for the award in 2019 and the other seven were human though and they included Richard Harris, who worked to rescue 12 Thai children trapped inside a cave, medal-winning Paralympian Kurt Fearnley and social activist Bernadette Black.