2015 NGINA GARDEN INDUSTRY AWARDS
25 Nov 2015
NSW & ACT's finest were unveiled at the NGINA Awards night on 20 November with great anticipation. Winners on the night include.....
Lots of hard work paid off for businesses and key individuals at NGINA's prestigious Garden Industry awards night where top nurseries and garden centres were hailed for their commitment to the industry and the community.
In a relaxed presentation ceremony at Dural Country Club on 20 November, excellence in business was recognised and honoured as nursery and garden industry leaders strive to achieve best business practice.
After a rigorous assessment process it was announced that NSW had nine finalists going through to the national awards judging that will be announced at the NGIA Gala dinner at the 2016 conference.
The NSW winners announced on the night were:
Best Retailer for turnover below $1.5M
Winner: Total Gardens Garden Centre, Coffs Harbour
Best Retailer for turnover over $1.5M
Winner: Honeysuckle Gardens, Mosman
The prestigious NGINA Awards of Merit were made to some very worthy recipients:
NSW Perpetual Award
Winner: Tubestock Grower Group
This award was presented to Judy Horton, probably one of the industry’s most awarded people for her outstanding contribution to Horticulture. Judy is a walking encyclopedia, and although retired is still very active in the industry.
Outstanding Individual in a Region or Special Interest Group
Winner: Jennifer Ollerenshaw
A very humble recipient, Jennifer was the deserving winner of this award for her continuous service to the Tubestock Growers Group over the past 15 years.
Allan Seale Award
Winner: Catherine Stewart
Catherine was recognised with this award due to her outstanding contribution to the Horticultural industry through the media in all its forms. Catherine has also won recent media awards for her Garden Drum website and blog. She has had an interesting career with quite a few changes of career direction (including selling kilts on her resume!) before settling into media.
Life Member Award
Winner: Gary Eyles
This rarely given award was presented very deservedly to Gary Eyles, who has served the industry for many years in a number of different capacities, from the State Board, National Board, Auscitrus nationally and Citrus Growers globally. Gary was a founding member of the International Society of Citrus Nurserymen, where he served as President until recently. He is a longstanding member of the International Plant Propagators Society and has been in the industry over 45years.
Award of Merit
Winner: Todd Layt
The Award of Merit recognises an outstanding contribution to the industry. Todd Layt is a well-warranted winner of this award for his breeding programs, which have resulted in Todd being one of the best known Australian breeders of turf and Australian Native Plants, breeding over 35 different varieties. Many of his plants are selling by the millions overseas, in places like the USA, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa and Japan. He has licensed many of the plant varieties to hundreds of growers around the world.
The NGINA Marketing awards this year covered a range of categories of best practice in key marketing areas, and the winners are:
- Best Newsletter: Colourwise Nursery
- Best Website: C-Mac Industries
- Best Point of Sale: Tim's Garden Centre with Fruit Fly Resistant Tomato and Major's Mulch with Mulching Pellets
- Best Plant Label: Colourwise Nursery with Colour Innovations
The NGINA Long-service Membership Awards were made to the following businesses for achievement of 25 years continuous membership:
- Alstonville Palms
- Bonny Hills Garden Centre
- Bywong Nursery
- Cape Nursery
NGINA also ran the inaugural Members Choice Awards, which allowed NGINA Members to recognise the businesses they believe deserve acknowledgement.
This year’s winners are:
- Best Regional Business - Mid North Coast: Total Gardens
- Best Regional Business - Northern Rivers: Coast Guard Netting Services
- Best Regional Business - Sydney: Rosewood Nursery Sales & Transport
- Best Regional Business - ACT/South West: Howlong Nursery
- Best Regional Business - Central Coast Hunter: Scotts Tubes
- Best Regional Business - Tweed Brunswick: Plantasy Nursery
- Retailer of the Year 2016: Total Gardens
- Grower of the Year 2016: Plantasy Nursery
- Rising Star of the Year 2016: The Green Gallery
CEO of the NGINA, David Foster, said the Board were impressed with the high standard of entries and applauded the winners for their exceptional leadership. "NGINA Awards celebrate industry players at the top of their game and this year's winners demonstrate that businesses in the industry are still innovative and inspirational. The Individual awards recognise people of dedication and commitment over many years of service to the industry."
Images 2 – 4: Best Retailer for turnover below $1.5M - Total Gardens Garden Centre; Best Retailer for turnover over $1.5M - Honeysuckle Gardens, Mosman; Rising Star of the Year – The Green Gallery.