By Tania Phillips
She had some stiff competition but Warwick’s Shelley Doyle beat them all to be named Emerging Leader at the 2023 Queensland Ag Show Awards in Brisbane on 18 March.
And proving just how dedicated she is, just a week later, this weekend to be exact, Shelley was back at her posts supervising and running the Stud Cattle Competition and Lego Competition at the Warwick Show, even finding time to enter the photographic and a couple of sections herself.
But despite her obvious love of the local Southern Downs and Granite Belt shows, Shelley admitted she was shocked when her name was read out at the annual awards in Brisbane.
“There were a whole heap of nominees put up from all over Queensland, for all the different show societies,” she said.
“So not only were we lucky to have two nominees – both myself and Denise Ryan, another member of the Warwick Show and Rodeo Society on such a vast field, then to actually take out the award and be recognised out of all the nominees in Qld. It was pretty special.
“I was very shocked and very humble because of the calibre of entrants. They came from all across Queensland and you don’t naturally assume, you’re just one little country girl, doing the best for her local show and the other local shows around here, when there are other people doing the same thing everywhere across the State.
“But for me to be selected, I was very shocked.”
Shelley has been involved directly in the show since leaving school, though she was a regular attendee and event entrant before that, starting off running the Stud Cattle Competition at Warwick.
“I became more involved and back in 2017 and joined the management committee,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot to different roles with the Warwick Show and Rodeo Society but then also helping out at Killarney and Clifton. It’s just getting in and helping out where needed so that they can thrive and have good competitions. You want to see everyone be successful not just your own little local show.”
Established in 2016, as an initiative of the Queensland Ag Shows Next Generation Committee, the Queensland Ag Shows Awards recognise excellence and innovation in the Agricultural Show movement.
The QSAs serve to acknowledge the contributions of the grassroots volunteers that bring together Shows within Qld and aim to celebrate the tireless efforts that embody the values of the Agricultural Show movement.
The Emerging Leader award acknowledges an individual aged between 18 and 35 who has, through their attitude and efforts within at least one of Queensland’s 129 Agricultural Show societies, demonstrated they are an emerging leader in the movement.
