TOP young wool brokers from Victoria and New South Wales have been selected as finalists in the industry’s annual broker award.

The finalists for the 2017 National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia Award are Landmark wool account manager at Bendigo, Candice Cordy; Australian Wool Network wool and sheep specialist Russell Macgugan at Hamilton, and; Elders district wool manager at Walgett, Brett Smith.

Ms Cordy 29, started in Landmark’s graduate program in 2009, initially working in livestock sales processing and progressing to her wool account manager role in 2011. This has meant servicing central Victorian clients in ram selection, sheep classing and clip marketing. She has also been involved in organising the Australian Fleece Competition since 2011, taking over as convenor from senior wool account manager Athol Frederick this year.

Mr Macgugan, 35, started with AWN in 2012, after six years with LMB Linke as a livestock agent. His wool and sheep client focus extends across the Western District, from Streatham to Stawell and Edenhope and the southern region. A large part of his work has been working with wool growers on AWN’s MerinoSnug program, with plans being finalised this year for a Western District MerinoSnug label.

Mr Smith started with Elders at Walgett as a district wool manager in 2015, after three years with Landmark. His wool client base spans parts of New South Wales and Queensland. He is a qualified wool classer, a Bachelor of Agriculture and Resource Economics degree graduate and an accredited deliverer of Lifetime Ewe Management and More Lambs More Often programs.

The finalists will give a short presentation in support of their applications to the NCWSBA Annual General Meeting and Forum on August 24, 2017, at the Crowne Hotel in Melbourne.

The NCWSBA said the annual wool broker award recognises excellence in wool broking by a younger member of the Australian wool broking industry. The winner will be decided by a NCWSB selection panel and presented for the sixth time at the Australian Wool Week dinner on August 24 at Aerial in Melbourne.

The winner of the 2017 award will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong to attend the International Wool Textile Organisation’s 2018 Congress in May 2018. The award is sponsored by Fairfax Agricultural Media and AWTA Ltd.