Initial Planning 

You must be some way involved in agriculture and/or natural resource management which includes forestry and fisheries and related service industries. 

If you can’t meet all the criteria then this award may not be for you and you will have saved your self a lot of time. If you are in any doubt contact your relevant State contact person listed on the entry form or the National Award coordinator. 
 

Think of a proposal - Why do you want to apply for the bursary and how you would spend the money?

Take time to define what you want to do and how you want to do it. Perhaps ask family and friends to help you brainstorm ideas. Here are a few to get you thinking:

• build your leadership, management and business skills
• fund an overseas study tour
• pay for formal training in marketing and promotion
• help you to achieve more quality assurance or diversify
• run workshops or do a speaking tour in an area where you have expertise
• develop new markets for your product
• write a book, a publication or an educational campaign.

Make sure that your proposed activities are not already eligible for funding under other government department grants or programs, eg. Regional Partnerships Program, Export Market Development Grants or Food Processing in Regional Australia Program. The clear difference being that most programs are focused on group and community efforts while the Award is very clearly focused on the individual, their development and their contribution to rural Australia.

Writing your application

This may take you a few days. It is often good to get your ideas down in a first sitting and then leave it for a day or two before having a fresh look at what you have written.

Headings
It might be helpful to firstly do a rough outline under each headings based on what is required. You can then jot down a few points under each which will get you started. Remember you must address each of the three selection criteria. 

(Tip: do the easiest bits first and come back to the more time consuming details later.)

The Selection Criteria
(Tip: Remember be specific and keep it simple. Limit yourself to what you know can be achieved in the 12 months time frame.)

1. A demonstrated personal commitment to sustainable agriculture and to the role of rural women in your State and Territory. (One page)

This first criteria is asking you to write about your commitment to the future sustainability of agriculture and natural resource management.

(Tip: Sustainable means developing a proposal that has the capacity to produce positive long terms impacts for agriculture and natural resource management and rural communities.)

You need to show how you are committed to agriculture and rural women in your state or territory. The key word here is demonstrate - so as well as talking about your background and ‘philosophical approach’ you should try and give concrete examples. The Selection Committee will be looking for evidence of your commitment to agriculture and to rural women, now and in the future. 

You might include things like:

• your participation in rural organisations and the benefits you have returned to your industry and the people in it
• your involvement in rural women’s groups and your understanding of the role of women in agriculture
• the resources and work you have put into your own enterprise and/or an industry
• the long term commitment and involvement in your enterprise, an organisation or industry.

This criteria is about your vision for agriculture and natural resource management and how the Bursary will help you achieve your vision, enhance your skills and provide you with the capacity to contribute at a higher level to your industry and/or to agriculture and natural resource management in general. 

The Selection Committee will be looking for a clear and tangible personal and individual vision and the dividends that that vision will return through the Bursary, to the individual and more broadly to agriculture and natural resource management and people working in it. They want to know how the Bursary will help you and how in turn, it will benefit the broader rural community.

Give some thought to your burning vision for agriculture - if you had the resources what would you like to change or improve in agriculture and natural resource management today, how could you make a difference and what would be a benefit to you and to the broader industry.

Headings

• Paragraph One: outline as clearly and succinctly as possible - your personal vision for agriculture and natural resource management.
• Next three or four paragraphs: outline how the Bursary will help you achieve your vision. You may wish to expand on what generated the idea, provide evidence supporting the importance or need for your proposed activity and any research you may have undertaken (How do you know the need exists?). You might like to think of how your proposal will provide benefits beyond the 12 month period.
• Next three or four paragraphs: set out 2 or 3 objectives which focus on your proposed activity. In other words, what are you wanting to achieve or what change are you trying to make? A few examples:
• to promote market opportunities for wool products
• to explore new ways of producing emu meat products
• to establish new markets or partnerships with overseas countries
• to further develop leadership qualities and skills among dairy women
• to develop a new rural industry educational campaign
• to write or publish a book or document on a new aspect of rural business/industry.
• Next three or four paragraphs: Provide a draft budget. This will depend on your activities but needs to give a general indication of how you will spend the Bursary. Be realistic about the costs. Do some research and get quotes or estimates to help you plan your budget. This is a simple sample budget - you may need to include other items which will depend on your proposed activities:

3: Provide leadership and share skills and knowledge.  .  (One page)
This is where you need to think about how your proposed activity will provide you with leadership skills and how you will impart those new found skills and knowledge to others.

Checking

Final reading

Send Off