There was a strong field of applicants for the NCWSBA Wool Broker Award this year. The independent Selection Panel of Ed Storey (President, Woolproducers Australia), Ian Ashman (General Manager, Raw Wool, AWTA) and Terry Sim (Senior Journalist for Sheep Central) met on Friday, 12th July and, after reviewing the five applications, agreed on the Finalists for the 2019 NCWSBA Wool Broker Award.

The three Finalists are:

Samantha Wan (Elders, Victoria)
Russell Macgugan (AWN, Victoria) and
Matthew Chambers (Landmark, Western Australia).

The three Finalists will give a presentation in support of their application at the NCWSBA Annual General Meeting and Forum on Thursday, 22nd August at the RACV Club, in Bourke St, Melbourne. The independent Selection Panel will be present at the AGM and Forum, and will make their decision on the winner later that day. The winner will be announced at the Wool Week dinner held at the RACV Club in Melbourne in the evening of 22nd August.

The NCWSBA Wool Broker Award has been awarded since 2012 and recognises excellence in service to woolgrowers, auctioneering and/or innovation by an outstanding wool broker employee who is working for a NCWSBA member and has been in the wool broking industry for 10 years or less. The prize in 2019 is a fully paid trip to attend the 2020 congress of the International Wool Textile Organisation to be held in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, China in May 2020. Arrangements will also be made for the 2019 Award winner to visit the wool textile industry and retailers in China. The Award has been made possible by the generous support of the Award Sponsors – AWTA Ltd and Sheep Central.

For the first time, the other Finalists for the 2019 Award will be presented with a suit length of fine wool fabric produced by Reda, a leading Italian wool company.