Nominations open for 2015 Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal
The Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal judging panel is once again calling on the kiwifruit industry to nominate their finest
leaders for the 2015 award.
The kiwifruit Industry Advisory Council (IAC) set up the Hayward Medal four years ago to honour the people who have led
the industry and established it as a New Zealand export success story, selling more than $1.57 billion of
premium-quality Zespri Kiwifruit last year.
IAC chairman Paul Jones says nominations are encouraged for people right across the industry who’ve shown excellence,
commitment and leadership.
“Our industry is set for strong growth and on track to double export revenue by 2020. We simply wouldn’t be in this
position today without world-class people and the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal has been set up to acknowledge and
celebrate our great people.
“We’re once again calling on our colleagues to nominate the people they think have made a defining contribution to the
industry success we see today,” says Mr Jones.
Takao Takeshige, President of award-sponsor Fresh Carriers says when the shipping company started carrying New Zealand
kiwifruit to Japan about 30 years ago, not many people could have expected the industry to be as successful as it is
today.
“This success and the continuing growth is thanks to the great efforts of all the people working in the kiwifruit
industry. We are very honoured to present the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal to the winner and are looking forward to
meeting them at the Hayward Medal Dinner,” says Takeshige-san.
Over the past three years, the Medal has been awarded to people who made outstanding contributions to the kiwifruit
industry in very different ways, through science, leadership and personal vision and drive.
Last year, growers Paul Heywood and Leo Mangos were jointly awarded the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal for their work in
establishing the grower-owned structure of the industry. The ex-chair of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board, John
Palmer was awarded the Medal in 2013 for his tireless efforts to bring the kiwifruit industry through the fiscal crisis
in the early 1990s.
And the inaugural award went to Plant & Food Research plant breeder, Russell Lowe for developing and helping commercialise the gold kiwifruit variety Hort16A,
adding over $3 billion to the industry and New Zealand.
The Medal is named after the green Hayward cultivar which remains the foundation of kiwifruit industry, and acknowledges
the talented horticulturalist Hayward Wright, whose innovation and contribution set up the industry as we know it today.
Nominations close in three weeks on Friday 18 September and nominations for the pan-industry award are encouraged from
right across the industry. The winner will be announced and presented with the award at the Hayward Medal Dinner which
follows the Kiwifruit Industry Symposium on Thursday 29 October.
ENDS