Nominations sought for 3rd annual West Cork Farming Awards as deadline looms

THE 2^nd annual West Cork Farming Awards, run by The Southern Star in conjunction with the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, last autumn built on the great success of the inaugural ones in 2015, so we are delighted to announce that nominations are now being taken for our third annual awards, which will be presented on September 24^th.

Being a predominantly rural area, it is appropriate to honour farmers, their families, workers and agri businesses in West Cork for their endeavour and achievements. There are so many hard-working people toiling on the land, producing food of the high calibre for which the area is noted, and many more involved in the wider agri industry, so we are delighted to recognise their hard work through these awards.

Last year, once again, produced a very high calibre of winner, including Michael Daly, Reenascreena (Young Farmer of the Year), the Allshire Family, Rosscarbery (Innovation & Vision), Michael Crowley, Bauravilla, Skibbereen (Dairy Farmer of the Year), John Daly, Ballineen (Drystock Farmer of the Year) and Con Scully, Ardfield (Hall of Fame).

This year there are five categories, as follows:

• Young Farmer award
• Sustainability & Diversification
• Dairy Farmer of the Year
• Drystock Farmer of the Year
• Hall of Fame award

We are now looking for nominations from people involved in farming, the agri industry and members of the general public of people they feel are worthy of being considered for these awards. Each winner will receive a specially-commissioned trophy and a prize to the value of €500.

Having chosen the category on the entry form (see bottom of this page) for which you wish to make a nomination, tell us briefly why you think the person is deserving of this award, but make sure you tell the person you are nominating in case they do not wish to let their name go forward for consideration. People may also nominate themselves.

The final deadline for accepting nominations is Friday, July 14^th, 2017 and they should be sent to: West Cork Farming Awards, Southern Star, Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co Cork.

There is also an option to download the nomination form on our website or to fill it out there and submit it electronically:

Go to http://www.southernstar.ie/farmingawards

If you have any enquiries, call us on 028-21200.

Nominations are being accepted as of now and we would encourage people to get them in to us early as we will be profiling the shortlisted three nominees in each of the five categories in these West Cork Farming & Fisheries pages in August and September.

The judging panel will again be chaired by Con Downing, editor of The Southern Star, and includes Billy Kelleher, regional manager of Teagasc Cork West; JJ Walsh, sales and marketing manager of the Carbery Group, and John Buckley, a former Macra Young Farmer of the Year. Decisions of the judges will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The shortlists in the various categories will be announced in August and the winners will be presented with their awards during a gala West Cork farming family day in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, on Sunday, September 24^th next.