Thumbs up as South Australia’s best celebrated at regional awards night
Supporters and champions of the state’s agricultural and regional communities were recognised last night at the 2024 Regional Showcase and AgTown of the Year awards. See the list of winners
Representatives of the state’s rural and regional communities, local and state government departments and media gathered at Beresford House at Beresford Estate in McLaren Vale to celebrate rural and regional SA.
The Regional Showcase Awards, run by Solstice Media, the publisher of InDaily, SALIFE and CityMag, brought together the finalists from the 148 stories published last year across the publications about regional South Australia.
The Regional Showcase Awards include six individual categories culminating in the People’s Choice Award. The stories are written by a combination of Solstice Media reporters and regional freelance journalists.
The Regional Resilience Award presented by Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) went to OzFish for its work in creating new native fish habitats in the Bundaleer Reservoir.
The volunteers bringing the Christmas spirit to the Riverland community through Santa’s Cave Waikerie were recognised with the Meaningful Connections Award presented by Seniors Card. The annual exhibition is sponsored by the District Council of Loxton Waikerie with Rotary Club of Waikerie assisting.
Finch Restorations’ hand-built reproduction of a 1938 SS Jaguar for a US-based client saw the Mt Barker company acknowledged with the Business Innovation Award.
The Community Empowerment Award went to the Clare Valley Wine and Wilderness Trail and its volunteers whose significant efforts have enabled the completion of the 100-kilometre walking trail.
You might like
The Roxby Downs Early Childhood Project, which enabled participants to work in the field while studying and helped to address a local staffing shortage, was recognised with the Lifelong Learning Award.
While Cadell Training Centre’s new dairy, which opened in May and supports prisoner rehabilitation, was a resounding winner for the People’s Choice Award.
InDaily Editorial Director Jim Plouffe, who commissions the stories, said that this year the range of content was outstanding from both the breadth in subjects and geography.
“We have a team of regional freelance writers, our own in-house journalists and very enthusiastic university interns find and write these stories and I am always amazed at how well they do uncovering the nuggets hidden across SA,” Plouffe said.
“Our Regional Showcase Awards are incredibly important in bringing rural South Australia to our mainly urban readership. If you don’t know what’s happening in the regions of SA, you don’t know what our state is built upon.”
Ag Town of the Year
Another highlight of the night was the crowning of Penola as 2024 Agricultural Town of the Year.
The town in the state’s South East edged out finalists Kimba and Burra.
Stay informed, daily
Established in 2019, the award recognises South Australian towns that are excelling in agricultural practices and the flow-on effect they have on their communities.
Wattle Range Council mayor Des Noll said Penola’s recognition would “not have been possible without the community”.
“Our farmers and local businesses who have all assisted and daily put in to make Penola the community it is.”
Ahead of the night, Noll said Penola was a winner on all measures.
“It’s one of the most diverse agricultural hubs in South Australia and has so much to offer in terms of primary production [and] as a destination for people to engage in those businesses, live here or retire, because the rewards are very good,” he said.
Noll also praised the level of innovation in the region’s industries and the progressive thinking and supportive nature of the people living there.
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven attended the event and congratulated the three finalists, saying judges had noted the “creative, industrious people they met in each town with ambitious plans for lifting up their respective communities”.
“They noted serious engagement with the latest tech and innovation, and in some cases collaborations with universities and other research institutions reflecting a desire to use data and evidence to improve and evolve agricultural activities,” she said.
“Finally, they noted the deep pride demonstrated by the three regional communities, in their fellow residents, in their individual and collective activities, and in their joint contributions to agriculture.”
Of Penola, Scriven said judges had noted the town was a display of “agriculture on agriculture on agriculture on agriculture”.
The 2024 Agricultural Town of the Year Award is an initiative of the Government of South Australia through the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, in partnership with Solstice Media.
The previous Ag Town of the Year winners are Cleve (2019), Pinnaroo (2020), Kimba (2021), Mypolonga (2022) and Wudinna (2023).
