Lauren McWilliam, New Zealand Rural Ambassador

Posted by on 10 July 2014 | Comments

At the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) Conference in Wellington over the weekend, the NZ Rural Ambassador Award was held. The four finalists were exceptional and this bodes well for our country and the pool of future agricultural leaders.

Run under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) and New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF), the Award recognizes excellence and is offered annually to young people, under the age of 30 years, who are not only involved in the A&P Show movement in some way but also contribute to their community and agriculture as a whole.

The four finalists – Zach Mounsey, Lauren McWilliam, Sarah O’Connell and Tryphena Carter – all excelled in their own right. To reach the finals they had to go through a selection process at District level before coming through to national level.

The judging panel of three – Mick Lester (Past President of the RAS), John Grigg (RAS President) and Abby Scott (Dairy NZ & NZ Young Farmers)- is normally a panel of four; however main sponsor NAIT/TB Free was unable to be there due to other commitments. Our thanks go to NAIT/TB Free for their support and we welcome their ongoing involvement.

The judges put the finalists through their paces and quizzed them on numerous topics including asking curly questions about global warming and its effect on agricultural. However the final hurdle was to give a five minute presentation to an audience of 80 and the topic on which they spoke was – If you had the opportunity to give your parent’s advice, what would it have been?

The overall winner on the night was Lauren McWilliam. Lauren is 24 years old and is the Rural Leadership Programme Manager for the Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre. She has many years experience in the show ring and is a well rounded individual with numerous skills. She also belongs to the South Wairarapa Young Farmers Club.

Lauren will go on to represent New Zealand in the Trans Tasman Competition in Sydney next year. James Hoban the winner from the 2014 competition is due to compete in Brisbane in August. The Trans Tasman component has been available for the last few years and New Zealand has held their own against our Australian cousins, with Tim van de Molen winning the competition in 2012 and Cam Lewis taking second place in 2013.

For further information please contact:

Debbie Cameron
Royal Agricultural Society CEO
03 313-1004 or 027 213 3946
debbie@ras.org.nz