Innovator, philanthropist and community leader Tanya Dupagne, from Western Australia’s wheatbelt, has been named the 2017 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National winner, and South Australia’s Simone Kain, the national runner up.
The announcement was made in Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday night.
Ms Dupagne will receive a $10,000 bursary from Westpac (adding to the $10,000 bursary she received as the WA state winner) to further progress her winning project - a camp program to support women from regional WA to develop their leadership skills and capacity - plus also assist with speaking engagements as the national winner.
Ms Dupagne is the director at Camp Kulin – a program which sees hundreds of volunteers contribute to improving the lives of WA children by teaching them life skills, leadership and self-confidence. Camp Kulin also provides scholarships for those affected by childhood trauma or facing emotional challenges.
The 2017 national runner up Simone Kain, from SA, will be building on her successful ‘George the Farmer’ stories and educational resources about life on the land by creating three new educational children’s resources, focusing on the wide and varied careers that are possible in agriculture, and featuring her other popular character Dr Ruby, a talented agronomist.
