Dairy Woman of the Year nominations open

Media release
For immediate release

25 January 2017

Dairy Woman of the Year nominations open

Dairy Women’s Network is on the hunt for an inspiring industry leader.

Nominations open for the sixth Dairy Woman of the Year on 1 February 2017.

“There is no shortage of potential winners out there doing amazing things in the industry every day,” says DWN trustee Alison Gibb.

“It’s just that these women often don’t realise that what they are doing is exceptional because they are driven by their own beliefs and passions without knowing the effect they are having on the wider industry at the time and in the future.”

Gibb says the 2017 winner, who will be announced at the Network’s conference in Queenstown in May, will be someone who is passionate about the industry, is a leader in her attitude and who is out there making things happen beyond the farm gate and beyond her community.

“She will be in fabulous company with our five previous winners Barbara Kuriger, Justine Kidd, Charmaine O’Shea, Katie Milne and Rebecca Keoghan.”

Kuriger is now the Taranaki-King Country National MP, Kidd has recently stepped down as DWN chair and been appointed as the Milk New Zealand chief executive, O’Shea is the chair of the Agri-Women’s Development Trust and Milne was elected to the Westland Milk Products Board last month.

As the most recent award recipient, Keoghan featured on Country Calendar in December.

The judging panel comprises a DWN trustee representative, previous Dairy Women of the Year, a Fonterra representative and one of the Network’s prime partners.

Dairy Woman of the Year has been sponsored by Fonterra since its inception more than five years ago.

“This award is an excellent way for us to encourage the capability and success of women in our dairy industry, and acknowledge the important role they play,” says Fonterra’s NZ Industry Affairs general manager Jo Finer.

“We’re proud of the calibre of women who have received the title so far and confident that we will find another inspiring and talented industry leader in 2017.”

“It’s so important that DWN has created this opportunity to acknowledge the work that these women do in championing the dairy industry,” says Gibb.

“The Dairy Woman of the Year is the only award of its kind in the dairy industry. There are plenty of industry awards – but nothing acknowledging the huge contribution women make.

“So this is a unique opportunity to acknowledge the incredible and valuable role that dairy women play in this country.”

With that in mind, she also said anybody could nominate a DWN member for the title.

“Nominators don’t need to be female, or even DWN members. They might be bank managers, colleagues, neighbours, sales reps – it doesn’t matter.”

Visit www.dwn.co.nz to find out more about the awards or to nominate someone.

-ENDS-

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