DAIRY AWARDS ONLINE ENTRY BONANZA

A move to online entries is proving an early success for organisers of the 2011 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.

National convenor Chris Keeping says 86 entries had been received online exactly one week after entries had opened – blitzing previous years in terms of the number of entries received in the first week.

“We have been amazed by the response. The move to online entry is proving to be a bonanza for the awards. It’s hard to believe we are about 800% up on entries than we were this time last year when we’d had only 11 entries. The year before we only received two entries in the first week.

“It’s a great result and a trend that we hope will continue. All these entrants will also be eligible for our early bird entry prize of a $4000 Honda farm bike, so there’s a good incentive to get in early.”

The New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions are run under the auspices of the awards.

The awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda Motorcycles NZ, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and RD1, along with industry partner Agriculture ITO.

A total of 508 entries were received in this year’s awards and organisers hope a similar number will enter the 2011 awards before entries close on December 24.

Entries are being received online at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.