Events

Beef’s Board Games - Rural Press Club Lunch, United Services Club, Thursday 25 June, networking from noon with lunch at 12.30pm
Brett Heading has agreed to report on the challenges as a director of the Australian Agricultural Company Limited. He was appointed a director on 16 June 2008 and as chairman of the board on 28 April 2009. He was well aware of the challenges when he joined the board following upheavals at board and management levels.  More Information & Bookings

News

Arlie wins Alltech Texas trip 
Congratulations to Arlie Douglas of Toowoomba, winner of the national Alltech Award for Young Rural Journalists for 2009.
Arlie, who is the ABC Country Hour reporter for the Darling Downs region, beat a quality field of candidates from around Australia under the award’s new single judging format.
Her prize, sponsored by Alltech, is a return airfare and conference registration to attend the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists World Congress in Fort Worth, Texas from July 29 to August 3. Full Article

Brad Cooper Star Prize runner-up
Well done to Brad Cooper who placed second in the Australian Star Prize Award for 2009 for Print Journalism sponsored by John Deere.  Brad is the Brisbane-based Editor of Good Fruit and Vegetables Magazine and is Vice President of the Rural Press Club.

The top prize this year went to Victorian writer John Conroy from Wodonga.

Rocky photo a prize winner
A striking horse-and-rider photograph taken by Chris Ison from Rockhampton is the winner of the Queensland Rural Press Club Excellence in Rural Photography Award for 2009.
Chris is Chief Photographer at The Morning Bulletin which published his photo of competitor Rick Young taken at the Paradise Lagoons Campdraft.
The award carries prize money of $500 and a certificate.  A presentation was made to Chris at the Rural Press Club breakfast held in Rockhampton as part Beef Week 2009.
Runner-up was Townsville Bulletin photographer Evan Morgan with a photo of camels in the sunset at Hughenden.  More information & larger images

Presentation to Life Members
Life Members of the Rural press Club were presented with their Life Membership badges
at a recent meeting. Pictured Right: (l to r) Bill Kerr, Philip Bate, Christine Walker and Gordon Collie.  

Farmers important to Incitec
The subject was rising fertiliser costs – put this together with Incitec Pivot General Manager Gary Brinkworth and it made for a rousing Rural Press Club lunch in May.  In a very informative address to guests, Mr Brinkworth explained the background to the recent world market gyrations.  He assured the audience that farmers were very important to the future of the Incitec business Full Story

Pip Courtney is off to the USA
Congratulations to Pip Courtney from ABC Landline, the inaugral winner of the Rural Press Club Excellence in Rural Journalism Award. 
Pip wins return airfares and conference registration for the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists World Congress in Fort Worth Texas from July 30 to August 5.
Her win was announced at the Club lunch on March 17,  from finalists Brad Cooper, Good Fruit and Vegetables magazine and Cathy McLeish, ABC Stateline.  Brad won $500 for best print entry and will represent Queensland in the national Star Prize Writing Award. Full Story

.
Country membership for just $20
The Rural Press Club has introduced a half-price membership category for people residing more than 100km from Brisbane.
This is expected to appeal to people with a rural interest who might be occasional visitors to the city and interested in attending one of the club’s monthly functions.
The new category offers the same priority email notices as regular and corporate members so popular events can be booked before they sell out.
It will also allow country journalists to compete for the growing list of awards on offer including trips to the USA for Queensland Excellence in Rural Journalism and the National Alltech Young Journalist Award.  Apply to become a country member on-line

Our 2009/2010 corporate members are: AgForce, Anderssen Lawyers, CANEGROWERS, CSIRO Livestock Industries, McCullough Robertson, QRAA, Queensland Farmers' Federation, Sugar Research and Development Corporation, Thynne & Macartney.