There are four ways you can access the Rural Women's Award 2012 Entry form.

Initial Planning 

You must be involved in some way in primary industries, whether you work in broad-acre farming or intensive livestock, cropping, horticulture, fisheries, forestry, natural resource management or related service industries. 

If you don’t think you meet all the criteria then this Award may not be for you and you will have saved yourself a lot of time. If you are in any doubt contact your relevant state Award coordinator or national Award coordinator, their contact details are on the application form.

How would you use the Award and the Bursary to make a difference?

The main objective of the Award is to help you improve your business and leadership skills so you can operate at a higher level in steering the future of your industry, primary industries and in turn rural Australia.

The Award's main objective is to support women with demonstrated leadership capacities, who have the desire and commitment to make a greater contribution to their industries and communities.

The $10,000 Bursary is the major prize for each State and Territory winner to provide resources to develop your vision into a project or initiative that will support your professional development and will benefit primary industries and rural Australia.

The Bursary can be used in all sorts of ways, as long as you show how it will build a greater capacity within you and how it in turn will benefit primary industries and rural Australia.

Take time to define what you want to do with the Bursary and how you would go about it. Here are a few ideas of how past Award recipients have put the Bursary to use to get you thinking: 
• Build your leadership, business and management skills
• Undertake an overseas study tour to grow your knowledge of innovations and markets
• Attend conferences to grow your knowledge and networks with industry
• Run workshops or a speaking tour in an area where you see a need and have expertise
• Develop new value adding opportunities and markets for products
• Write a book, a publication or an educational campaign
• Develop new information technology of specific benefit to primary industries and its people

The Bursary cannot be used for further education such as a Masters or Doctorate degree or for buying capital equipment. (without explicit approval from RIRDC)

Writing your application

Headings
It might be helpful to begin with a rough outline under headings based on what is required. You can then jot down a few points under each heading which will get you started. Remember to 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 primary industries and to the role of rural women in your State or Territory:

Write one page about your personal commitment to primary industries and/or natural resource management, and ways you have supported primary industries and rural women in your state or territory.
 

The first criterion is asking you to write about your commitment to primary industries and its future sustainability. You will need to show how you are committed to primary industries and to rural women in your State.  The key word here is demonstrate so as well as talking about your background and your ‘philosophical approach’ you should try and give concrete examples. The Selection Committee will be looking for evidence of your commitment. 

You might like to include things like: 

• Your participation in rural organisations and the benefits they have returned to your industry and its people
• Your involvement in rural women’s groups and your understanding of the role of women in primary industries
• The resources and effort you have put into your own enterprise/business and your industry
• The long term commitment and involvement in your enterprise, an organisation or industry. 

2. Potential to achieve and deliver benefits to primary industries: (This is the most important selection criterion and will be weighted accordingly)

Write up to three pages about your vision and personal ambition for primary industries and/or natural resource management; your leadership capability as demonstrated by past experience in leadership and change agent roles; and how through the Award you will enhance your leadership capacity and contribution to industry. Also provide a basic budget on how you will spend the bursary. Examples of costs that could be included are:

·         Travel, accommodation and meals; Training costs, conference and workshop registration fees; Consultations and networking; Printing, promotion and postage; Vehicle expense; Employment and childcare support

This criterion is about your vision for your industry and how the Bursary will help you achieve it and how you operate at a higher level in your industry.

The Selection Committee will be looking for a clear and tangible personal vision and the dividends that vision will return through the Bursary to you and your leadership capacity and to primary industries. Essentially they will want to know how the Bursary is going to grow you and in turn how you will grow your industry.

So give some thought for your burning vision for primary industries, if you had the resources what would you like to change or improve in primary industries today, how you could make a difference and what would be the benefits to you and to the broader primary industries.

Paragraph One: Outline as clearly and succinctly as possible your personal vision for primary industries.  Paragraph Two: Summarise your past experience in leadership and change management roles. It could be anything from Fundraiser at your local P and C, to member of your local Regional Development Australia or Catchment Management Committee, or initiatives or events you have effected independent of position. The Selection Committee will be looking for someone who has the leadership capability to enact on what they propose in this application. Paragraphs Three to Five: Outline how the Bursary will help you achieve your vision. You may wish to expand on what generated the idea, provide some evidence supporting the need for your vision, how it will help you be a leader and how your vision will benefit primary industries both now and beyond the 12 month period. 

Paragraphs Six to Nine: Set out two or three objectives which focus on your vision, in other words what you are trying to achieve and what change you are trying to make.

A few examples: 
• To promote market opportunities for wool products
• To establish new markets or partnerships overseas for olive oil.
• To further develop leadership qualities and skills amongst women in the cotton industry
• To develop a new rural educational program for secondary school
• To develop a new promotional campaign to educate the urban population on primary industries
• To write or publish a book on family farm business intergenerational issues.
• To develop websites that promote  primary industries and the rural communities they support. 

Paragraphs Ten to Twelve: :Provide a draft budget of how the Bursary will be spent. Try to be realistic about costs. Do some research and get some quotes or estimates to help you plan your budget. This is an indicative budget only. Examples of some of the costs you may include: Accommodation and meals, training costs, conference and workshop registration fees, printing, promotion and postage,  travel expenses, employment and childcare support.

3.  Provide leadership and share skills and knowledge:

Detail in one page how your Award ambition will assist you in the development of your leadership and representative capacity and how you will share your skills and knowledge to support others.

Checking

Final reading

Send Off

Keep a copy of your application and send it to your relevant State or Territory Award coordinator. Applications close on World Rural Women’s Day:- 15th October 2011