On Friday 4th October the Rural Ambassador State Finalists arrived in Melbourne to continue their journey for the State Final, which entailed a tour of the show and lots of great positive and passionate chats as we made our way around the show.

On Saturday each ambassador was interviewed by a panel of three judges, which were Susan Campbell-Wright, Steve Campbell-Wright & Greg Macdonald. We thank them for their time and effort in judging the state final, which they described as a very difficult task to split each ambassador as their contributions are exceptional to the agricultural shows movement. Each ambassador also had the opportunity to be interviewed in the broadcast box, which was on the main arena. Then the afternoon was filled with the Young Farmers Challenge, which 3 of the ambassadors were in teams and the other two were stewards & helpers on the day. It was very exciting that the rural ambassador team won the State Final and will be representing Victoria at the National Final next year in Adelaide so well done to Nicole Teitge, Tess Runting, Fraser Cameron & Bahlin Wishart!

On Sunday it was time for the Speeches Presentation from each ambassador, which they each delivered great speeches on the topic of “What are some of the future risks to the success and longevity of agricultural shows and how do you think we can resolve these risks?”. If you are interested in listening to each of the speeches they are on the VAS Facebook Page. It was then time for the Future Leaders Luncheon in the Masterchef Building where all ambassadors & families enjoyed the function together. This is where the results were announced of the State Final. The VAS Rural Ambassador State Final Winner was Caitlin Grieve representing the Midlands Group & Ballarat Show & the Runner Up was Nicole Teitge representing the Central & Upper Goulburn Group & Mansfield Show. Each ambassador represented their Show Society & Group so well and should be very proud of their contributions and the way they have conducted themselves.

VAS Ltd appreciates the support of our state final sponsors