A national awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of rural young people will be held for the first time by the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs’ (NFYFC).
The awards ceremony for the YFC Achiever Awards 2022, will be held in Birmingham at the Motorcycle Museum on 11 February 2023, and will be compered by NFYFC’s President Nigel Owens.
Due to the pandemic restrictions, awards have only ever been held online, but will be the first year the organisation is able to reward people in-person.
First launched in 2020, 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 rural young people.
Ellen Helliwell, the shepherdess from hit Amazon Prime TV show Clarkson’s Farm and farmer and YouTube blogger Olly Harrison, will help to choose the Community Spirit award winners.
After the success of last year’s Farm Safety Award, the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) are sponsoring this year’s category to help promote YFC members who are leading the way on safety.
Social media influencer and Devon young farmer Maria Warne won last year’s Farm Safety Award and will now be on the judging panel to choose this year’s top names.
Enterprising young people will also be recognised in the Entrepreneur of the Year category. The judges will be looking for rural and farming initiatives that have been launched during the pandemic.
YFC members will also be rewarded for the leadership they show in their clubs and counties.
Nigel Owens said the YFC Achiever Awards were a positive acknowledgement of the work that young people in rural communities were doing every day.
"From charity fundraisers to the commitment to improving the rural economy, we’re looking forward to seeing nominations for some very special people.
“The awards have grown in popularity in the last two years and it’s fantastic that we can finally host a special evening where everyone can be together to celebrate these achievements."
Nominations can be made online and entries must be submitted before the deadline of 31 July 2022.
