Nomination are now open for the 2023 Young Farmer Club Achiever Awards – defined as a “special celebration of the achievements of rural young people”.
Set up by the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Club (NFYFC), the awards are sponsored by Kärcher UK and aim to celebrate the achievements of young farmers.
The awards ceremony for the 2023 Achiever Awards will be held in Birmingham at the National Conference Centre (NCC) on November 3, 2023.
The NFYFC said the awards are a way of recognising and rewarding members of YFCs for the work they do in the community, for enterprising initiatives and for helping to develop other rural young people.
The judges for the awards include:
- Lizzie Mclaughlin – one half of the Becca and Lizzie podcast;
- Welsh farmer and TV presenter Gareth Wyn Jones; and
- Farmer and star of TV documentary ‘Born Mucky’, Ally Hunter Blair.
The awards will be presented by NFYFC’s president Nigel Owens.
“I am delighted to be involved in the YFC Achiever Awards 2023, which celebrate the amazing young people involved in this organisation,” Owens said.
“The commitment to their rural communities, the entrepreneurship that benefits our rural economy and the dedication to supporting the development of other young people deserves to be recognised.
“There are many unsung heroes among the YFC community, and I’m urging everyone to get their nominations in now so we can thank those special people at our impressive awards ceremony in November.”
Nominations can be made online at the NFYFC website and must be submitted before the deadline of July 17, 2023.
Award categories
Club of the Year
A new award for this year is the NFYFC Club of the Year award, which is sponsored by agricultural machinery company CFMOTO.
The award aims to celebrate YFCs who have demonstrated how well they can operate. Judges will be looking for examples of their programming, budgeting and a general demonstration of how a good YFC should be run.
Livestock and farming fine art illustrator, Kate Simpson, will be judging this category alongside the chief executive of the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), Robert Sheasby, and the NFYFC chair, Rosie Bennett.
“We have introduced the Club of the Year category into the YFC Achiever Awards this year as we want to celebrate the achievements of our club committees,” Bennett said.
“These teams of volunteers put together the club programmes, manage the budgets, handle the recruitment and organise all the competitions and events.
“This award aims to champion those clubs that are running their charities to a high standard and raising the bar for YFC.”
Young Farmer of the Year
The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) is sponsoring the 2023 Young Farmer of the Year award category, which seeks to reward someone who promotes best practice in the industry.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Sponsored by Kuhn, the entrepreneur of the year award aims to award enterprising young people.
The judges include hoof trimmer Ant Thomas, who launched the @Keepingcowsmoovin social media account, who will be looking for new rural and farming initiatives that YFC members have launched.
Aspiring Rural Leader
The Aspiring Rural Leader award is supported by Savills and hopes to fund examples of young rural people who are “making their mark”.
The award aims to reward YFC members for leadership in their clubs and counties.
Heart of YFC
The NFYFC has said that one of the most popular awards is where the winner is chosen by the YFC membership in an online poll.
The Heart of YFC Award, sponsored by headline sponsor Kärcher UK, is presented to the person that YFC members believe represents the true spirit of YFC.
The remaining award categories consist of:
- The Community Spirit Award – sponsored by Tama;
- The New Member of the Year Award – sponsored by Eternit; and
- The YFC Supporter of the Year Award.
