Runner Small, archer Jason Hurnall and Abbey Webb have been named as part of an 88-strong Australian team to join 4000 athletes from 206 countries in Argentina from October 6-18.

Small, 17, will be hoping to get junior international redemption after she spent five hours on a drip and wobbly legs in the Bahamas last year at the youth Commonwealth Games.

She has since made her senior Commonwealth Games in the 800 metres, clocking a personal best time of 2:00.81 in her heat to send another reminder about her potential.

Small will bypass the under-20s world championships to focus on the youth Olympics and is hopeful of forcing her way into medal contention. She finished second in the under-18 four kilometre national cross country championships last week.

"I'll still get another chance at the under-20s in a couple of years, so I'm lucky to be able to do both," Small said.

"I feel like my base is still there, so hopefully a good season coming up. The youth Olympics, because it's under-18, I do have the potential of getting a medal. So I'm going to attack it like a championship race, not worry about times and just compete.

"My previous team experiences will help me adapt and cope with the challenges of competing at an international level, and I am also hoping to use my past experiences to help my other teammates."

Small, Hurnall and Webb represent a new generation of Canberra athletes making their way through the junior ranks to get closer to their Olympic dreams.

The ACT government launched its people's sporting champion award on Thursday as part of the Canberra sports awards to recognise the capital's elite athletes.

Para shot-putter Cameron Crombie and Canberra Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker are past winners and Canberra Milk has added a $5000 incentive this year to encourage school children to vote.

"One of the great things about the ACT is that we have such a high participation rate in sport," said ACT sport minister Yvette Berry.

"We want everybody in the local community to get behind their sporting champion. It could be an athlete, it could be a coach or someone who's made a significant contribution."

Commonwealth Games champion Crombie added: Seeing sport develop at a ground-roots level is really important. It definitely shaped the person I am and created a lot of relationships I now cherish."

Crombie is organising a cross-code "sporting day out" in Belconnen on September 15 in the hope of giving children a chance to try different athletics events and mingle with athletes from other sports. There will be boys and girls from 25 different primary schools competing in 11 events.

Voting for the people's sports champion will close on November 5, with the winner to be announced at a function at the National Arboretum on November 30.

Cycling duo Caroline Buchanan and Michael Matthews were named the female and male sports stars of the year at the 2017 function.