NSA awards to acknowledge commendable members of UK sheep sector

Two respected awards recognising the outstanding contribution from those working within the UK sheep sector are now open for nominations.

The NSA George Hedley Memorial Award and the NSA Bob Payne Memorial Award are both well known and respected for rewarding deserving individuals from the UK sheep industry. And for the first time in their history, will now both be awarded annually to recognise the increasingly significant number of people who have such a valuable impact on the success of the sector.

First presented more than 60 years ago, The NSA George Hedley Award acknowledges outstanding individual contributions to the UK sheep sector. The award is typically seen as a lifetime achievement honour to a highly esteemed person within UK sheep farming who has made a sustained or momentous contribution. The list includes but is not limited to influencers involved in sheep-focused research/development, provision of out-of-the ordinary services, industry promotion/profile raising, charity work, training/education or facilitation of best practice.

Individual NSA members and committees, major agricultural organisations, farming unions and NSA-affiliated sheep breed societies are now invited to make nominations for the award as a 200-word written citation. Nominations from individual NSA members must state a proposer and seconder, but this is not required for nominations from a committee or other group. 

NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker says: “The George Hedley award is a really prestigious recognition of outstanding contribution to the sheep industry in the UK. The long and very worthy list of individuals who have been recipients of this award in the past is testimony to the dedication of people within our sector. All at NSA are proud to present this award and we look forward to welcoming nominations this year.”

NSA is also inviting nominations from NSA committees for the NSA Bob Payne Memorial Award for an Unsung Hero. This NSA award is now to be awarded annually, having previously been presented every other year. It is given to an individual from within NSA’s own extensive network of officeholders, committee members, volunteers and staff who go above and beyond for the good of NSA.

Mr Stocker continues: “This special award really does give praise to those individuals who are often the unassuming, loyal and hard-working individuals that are key to the successful running of an aspect of NSA’s work. It is pleasing to now be able to present this annually to reflect the incredible number of people within our organisation whose work is essential but often unseen.”

Nominations for the NSA Bob Payne Memorial Award must come from NSA committees themselves and as well as the NSA George Hedley Memorial Award must be received by Friday 30th September 2022 and accompanied by a citation. The citation should be limited to 200 words.