The founder of vibrant food event Plate Up Ballarat and local producer network Eat Drink West is the Passion category winner.Kate joins Lauwana Blackley and Carmel Beresford from Queensland, Simone Dudley and Georgia Foster Eyles from NSW and Meg Clothier of South Australia to complete the honour roll of winners in six categories: Belief, Courage, Dedication, Grace, Passion, Spirit.Victoria’s Lisa Rundell of Kyneton, Courtney Baker from Warragul, Joy Heenan from Warragul, Sarah Mostyn of Cohuna, Bridget Bentley from Bendigo and Rebecca McErvale of Lexton have also been named as finalists in the awards.Now in its fourth year, the Shine Awards is a campaign run by Australia’s rural newspaper The Weekly Times, supported by Harvey Norman.Nominees’ stories have appeared in The Weekly Times over the past year, with a dedicated campaign that put rural women in the spotlight for the past 12 weeks and invited readers to nominate women who make a real difference to their industries and communities. From a record-breaking field of almost 300 nominees, 18 finalists were announced.
VICTORIA’S RURAL WOMEN SHINE

2020 SHINE AWARDS PASSION WINNER

Kate Davis, food event organiser, Ballarat, Victoria

PASSION ON A PLATE
Behind every prosperous rural town there is usually one dynamic individual.Ballarat has Kate Davis.In 2012 Kate – who is born and bred in the regional city – started the Ballarat Beer Festival, a one-day event in January showcasing about 40 craft brewers.Such was its success, she sold the annual event in 2015, and it continues to run each year.Then when the City of Ballarat asked her to come up with an idea to promote Ballarat food in winter, Kate created a month-long pie competition, with more than 10,000 pies consumed in venues throughout the city.In 2018 Kate created another key event on the town’s event calendar, Plate Up Ballarat, which (pandemic aside) offers about 50 events, with each venue showcasing at least three locally grown ingredients.And it is on the back of the success of Plate Up that Kate has concocted her most recent ingenious plan: Eat Drink West.Eat Drink West is a website of west Victorian farmers designed so chefs and consumers can access their produce.“I didn’t want the message of supporting local producers to just end with Plate Up in May. I wanted to be able to support them every single day,” she says.Eat Drink West also runs events to bring producers, consumers and venue operators together.Producers pay a one-off $750 establishment fee, followed by a smaller annual subscription. In return they receive a web profile, video and photos, social media updates and invitations to events.“If producers are working flat out on their farms they don’t have extra marketing resources and that’s where we come in to help support them,” she says.Given she didn’t grow up on a farm, why is it that she has made promoting the area’s food production her number one driver?Kate says her main motivator is her love of Ballarat.“People tell me the reason events work is because of me,” she says. “I don’t even know what that means.“I think it’s because I’m passionate and I care. It helps that I love food, wine, people and Ballarat.”For her unwavering commitment to her hometown, which is boosting the fortunes of producers across the region, Kate Davis is a deserving winner of the Shine Award for Passion.Passion category finalists: Farm safety consultant Alex Thomas from Adelaide Hills, South Australia, and lamb producer Suzannah Moss-Wright from Lancelin, Western Australia.
2020 SHINE AWARDS BELIEF FINALIST

Lisa Rundell, Lost Trades Fair co-founder, Kyneton, Victoria

FORGOTTEN TRADES FIND NEW CHAMPION
In 2012 Lisa Rundell quit city life to move to Kyneton with her husband, Glen, and start Rundell and Rundell, a handcrafted chair shop.While the Piper St shop has earned repute for its old-world production skills, the couple – particularly Lisa – has gained worldwide attention for their other pursuit: establishing the Lost Trades Fair.The fair is a celebration of skilled manual work, traditional trades, crafts, tools and techniques.“We held the first fair in the Kyneton Museum (in 2014) and we thought we’d get maybe 500 people a day,” Lisa says. “But then we had more than 7000 people and so we thought, we’ll do this again.”Fast forward to 2020 and Lost Trades has become so big that in March they moved the fair to Bendigo for the first time. In total, 10 fairs have run across three states. The couple are in the process of taking out an international trademark, with requests – pre-COVID-19 – for Lost Trades Fairs coming in from the US and UK.“It is pretty exciting to receive international recognition for an event started in a small country town in rural Victoria,” she says.More than 120,000 visitors have attended fairs, not including the “millions” logging in via social media, magazines, radio, print and TV, across Australia and overseas.About 200 artisans, from coopers to blacksmiths, leatherworkers to toolmakers, have demonstrated their trades and Lisa says she never fails to be impressed by their work.“It’s a revolution of artisans – those who want to pursue a life that is meaningful, make beautiful things that are not throwaway and will last generations, made with an honesty that is real and tangible,” she says.“I think the Lost Trades Fair in many ways has achieved more than we ever expected.”
2020 SHINE AWARDS COURAGE FINALIST

Joy Heenan, spinal injury survivor, Warragul, Victoria

BRAVE SURVIVOR RIDES AGAIN
If anyone knows what it means to get back on the horse, it’s Joy Heenan.The words don’t convey the courage it took for the mum-of-three to return to the saddle, however, given what the tragic fall from her horse cost her. The Warragul woman’s life changed forever on Christmas Eve a decade ago, when she fell off her horse and broke her spine, becoming paraplegic – paralysed from her shoulder blades down.But Joy was determined to return to riding, and was back in the saddle within seven months of her injury, saying it has been “very much an integral part of my healing”.“I did give it up there for a little while, but realised that I love it, and if there is something you love so much, even if people don’t want you to do it and don’t understand why, you do it,” she says. “You’ve really got to do what makes your heart feel fulfilled.” She struggled to find other women with spinal injuries to talk to, to help her process the impact her injury had on her life. That’s why she now volunteers with spinal injury network Spire’s peer support team, to help people who have found themselves in a similar situation.She now blogs about her experiences on her Facebook page, My Resilient Ride, and has also started a counselling diploma, aiming to return to work and help people with mental health challenges.She also hopes to soon make her competitive riding debut with her Warmblood, Sandman.    And to people who say she is inspirational, Joy says she does what she does out of necessity.“I am not trying to do anything to be inspirational,” she says. “I am just trying to live my best life, and show people that, yes, you can do it, but it doesn’t mean it’s not tough.”   
2020 SHINE AWARDS COURAGE FINALIST

Courtney Baker, disability awareness campaigner, Warragul, Victoria

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BE HEARD
It took bravery for Courtney Baker to find her voice. Now that she has, the 40-year-old jewellery maker from Warragul is speaking up on behalf of millions of Australians who live with hearing loss, just as she does. Courtney is founder of a small earring brand, Flluske, that spreads the simple message “love your ears”. The words have resonated with people around the world who live with deafness and have experienced challenges similar to Courtney. After three years of trading, she has sold 9456 pairs of earrings, with a goal to hit 10,000 by the end of the year.Courtney has had a severe hearing impairment since birth. The disability led to her being bullied at school, marginalised in workplaces and feeling ashamed of her ears for most of her life.“It has always been something that I struggled to accept about myself,” says the entrepreneur.As a child, craft was her escape. In adulthood, Courtney hit a low point five years ago when navigating difficulties in her workplace. She quit her job, and returned to art, making earrings to feel better about her ears. Eventually she spun the pastime into a business.“People with hearing loss started to buy my earrings because it made them feel empowered as well,” she says.When COVID-19 took hold, and face masks became mandatory in Victoria, Courtney again felt a rush of panic about what covering mouths would mean for lip-readers. But after discovering it was lawful to remove face masks for people who have hearing impairments, she launched an awareness campaign in her local community. Shops throughout Gippsland now display her posters and back Courtney’s mission, returning the freedom to speak and hear to a significant number of people with hearing loss.
2020 SHINE AWARDS DEDICATION FINALIST

Sarah Mostyn, goat farmer and market founder, Cohuna, Victoria

FRESH PERSPECTIVE INSPIRES COHUNA
Cohuna’s Sarah Mostyn sees huge potential in her small north Victorian town.The 37-year-old former accountant uprooted her life on the Gold Coast eight years ago, moving to the creek-side hamlet in search of a tight-knit community. Cohuna certainly delivered, throwing firm support behind the boutique goat dairy and goat milk soap business that Sarah established with her husband, Shayne.She has paid back the warm welcome in return, founding Cohuna Farmers’ and Makers’ Market to help other local artisans and producers realise their own business dreams. “We are really lucky it is a supportive community that really gets behind people,” says Sarah, who launched the market in 2018.“The day of the launch was cold, wet and windy, and I thought no one is going to come,” she says. “But Cohuna, true to form, everyone came and walked around with umbrellas. It has been a success ever since.”Pre-coronavirus, the market would run 14 times a year with about 30 stallholders each time, and attract visitors from far and wide.Due to COVID-19, trading is on pause for the moment, but Sarah organised an online portal so producers could continue to sell to their regulars.Friend and Kyabram farmer Deid Schlitz says Sarah has breathed new life into the region.“Her involvement in the market has not only helped fulfil her dreams, but inspired others in the community to realise that anything is possible,” Deid says. “Sarah is definitely a huge inspiration to our community.”
2020 SHINE AWARDS GRACE FINALIST

Bridget Bentley, Bendigo Foodshare manager, Bendigo, Victoria

BENDIGO’S BRIDGET IS ONE IN A MELON
When Bridget Bentley started her new job managing a food charity this January, she had little idea a global catastrophe was about to unfold.Her mind was focused on the opportunity that Bendigo Foodshare presented; a chance to help feed local people who were in need. When coronavirus hit the nation in March, it caused a huge spike in demand for Foodshare’s services. Meanwhile, panic buying caused a dramatic drop in supply of food supermarkets had available to donate.The mother of three didn’t flinch. She stepped up to the task, managing hundreds of volunteers who joined the Bendigo Foodshare team after the pandemic started to destroy livelihoods. Bendigo Foodshare collects food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it through charities, community organisations and schools. With Bridget confidently steering the ship, the team worked tirelessly to put food on tables across central Victoria. “One of the important things through all of this, and also looking forward … is always be true to our core objectives and core values and if we do that I don’t think we can go wrong,” she says.“That is about sourcing food and getting it out to people who need it and to do that with the community’s support — that we are part of the community and need the community to operate and survive.”She spearheaded initiatives to encourage local people to support each other. She also championed fundraisers including Cafes for COVID and Bendigo’s Biggest Takeaway, which paid local hospitality businesses to cook meals that went to people in need.“All of the community connections are what keeps Bendigo Foodshare going and has kept myself and my colleagues going. It is inspiring,” Bridget says.
2020 SHINE AWARDS SPIRIT FINALIST

Rebecca McErvale, Merino knitwear brand founder, Lexton, Victoria

INSPIRING YARN OF FIRE SURVIVAL
It didn’t take Rebecca McErvale long to realise her family’s Merino wool was something special.The city girl married her husband, wool grower Rod, 12 years ago. A year later, she had the brainwave to launch a boutique woollen brand and track their fleece from the sheep’s back all the way to the consumer’s shopping basket.The couple transform about a third of their flock’s fleece into an exciting range of 100 per cent Merino baby blankets, hats, scarfs and men’s jumpers, under their brand Leroy Mac Designs.Rebecca says the idea hit when she was searching for a gift for her newborn nephew and couldn’t find any Australian Merino blankets that weren’t blended or made in China.A tenacious marketer, she knew she had the skills to drum up customers, and was confident the products with provenance would command strong returns.Their greasy wool is processed in Italy, spun in Wangaratta and knitted in Ballarat, before it is returned to Rebecca, who sells through farmers’ markets and online. She has even invested in DNA-testing the fibre to guarantee their wool’s provenance.“We have full traceability to take a purchaser back to the actual paddock where that wool came from,” Rebecca says.The venture has not come without heartache. Last December a bushfire ripped through their farm at Lexton, destroying fencing and sheep yards and killing 300 sheep.“I’ve never felt so useless because as a city girl I didn’t know how to help him,” says Rebecca, who sheltered with their daughters, Maddison and Isla, while CFA member Rod fought the fast-moving fire.In the aftermath, the operation was nearly on its knees, but a huge outpouring of customer support inspired Rebecca and Rod to push on with the brand. “We’ve never had sales like we have this year,” says Rebecca, determined the business will thrive again.
FULL LIST OF 2020 SHINE AWARDS WINNERS

COURAGE AND OVERALL:
Carmel Beresford, grazier and author, Eulo, Queensland
BELIEF:
Simone Dudley, occupational therapist and co-founder of Therapy Connect, Deniliquin, NSW

GRACE:
Georgia Foster Eyles, fire recovery volunteer, Nymboida, NSW
DEDICATION:
Lauwana Blackley, dialysis nurse, Palm Island, Queensland
PASSION:
Kate Davis, food events organiser, Ballarat, Victoria
SPIRIT:
Meg Clothier, farm caretaker, Orroroo, South Australia



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