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Rural women’s award alumni celebrated in new book

Sheep Central, October 15, 2020

2019 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award national winner Jo Palmer with the new book.

A NEW e-book celebrating the contribution of women who have participated in Australia’s prestigious Rural Women’s Award has been launched to commemorate the International Day of Rural Women.

The e-book launched by the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award features award alumni answering a key question to empower and inspire women, an esp[ecially the next generation.

The theme of the book is celebrating 21 years with the same question posed to all the participants: “What advice would you give your 21 year-old self?”

The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award is Australia’s leading award for acknowledging and supporting the essential role women play in rural industries, businesses, and communities, particularly for those people living in regional and rural communities. The award provides a platform to inspire and support Australian women to use and develop their skills to benefit their industries and communities.

The RIRDC Rural Women’s Award was first launched in 2000, and winners were selected from every state/territory for the first five years.  In 2006, the titles of national winner and runner-up were introduced to provide further opportunities and increase the national platform for the women involved. In 2017, RIRDC was relocated from Canberra to Wagga Wagga, and re-branded to AgriFutures Australia.

More than 300 exceptional women from rural communities and industries have shared their challenges and solutions to many rural issues in the 21 years of the award.

AgriFutures Australia chair, Kay Hull, said the book highlights the inspirational women who have participated in the Award since its inception.

“For years, the aim of the program is to amplify the impactful voice of all our state/territory winners by giving them a platform to share their message and help unlock the potential of all rural women.

“This book is a wonderful record of the impressive Rural Women’s Award alumni,” she said.

“This book shines a light into the deeply personal stories of many women.

“They speak of social change, of triumph and tragedy, of ingenuity, resilience, bravery and determination,” Ms Hull said.

“And there’s no better day to launch such a powerful collection of stories than on the International Day of Rural Women where we celebrate the role of rural women globally.”

The 2020 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award state/territory winners will hold their positions until September 2021 when the national winner and runner-up of this cohort will be announced at a gala dinner at Parliament House.

The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award will not open applications in September 2020 for the 2021 program. Applications will open again, directly following the gala event in September 2021 for the 2022 program.

The book is available to download via the AgriFutures Australia website here. For more information on the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award  click here .

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