ICMJ Celebrates 30th Year!

15 Jul ICMJ Celebrates 30th Year!

MEDIA RELEASE 15 July 2019
A successful celebration of 30 years

The Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging (ICMJ) Association celebrated its 30th Anniversary on Saturday at the annual ICMJ Coles presentation evening in Wagga Wagga. The evening was celebrated by over 150 students, 38 coaches, multiple industry sponsors, supporters and alumni. The founder of the Australian ICMJ Association, Mr John Carter presented the John Carter Founders Buckle to the Individual Overall Champion Kate Werfel from the University of Adelaide and Individual Overall Runner Up, Kieran Smith from University of New England.

CSU Wagga Wagga and Teys Australia hosted the annual competition last week featuring 12 Australian Universities, and four international teams from Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and Texas Tech University, USA.
The week-long conference kicked off on Tuesday, July 9 and involved industry presentations, sponsored dinners, hands-on workshops, a careers expo attracting 44 companies from across the Australian meat and livestock industries and the meat judging competition. Texas Tech University took out the Roy McDonald Shield for Champion Overall Team closely followed by University of Adelaide team.

ICMJ President Dr Peter McGilchrist said the spread of awards right across all of the universities this year was fantastic to see with awards given to almost all of the competing institutions. The student’s achievement was testament to dedication by the individuals and their coaches. “Our program has absolutely achieved our goal of inspiring and developing future leaders of the global red meat industry,” he said. “This year was a great contingent of students who posed the most thought-provoking questions we’ve ever had to our presenters, interacted heavily with companies at the careers expo and took full advantage of every opportunity to advance their knowledge and networks.”

“The students and their coaches are clearly committed to a career in the global meat industry”
Dr McGilchrist also mentioned the success of ICMJ would not occur without the continued support of our major sponsors, including MLA, AMPC, Teys Australia, Australian Pork Limited, Coles, Hancock
Agriculture, NH Foods Australia, JBS / Andrews Meats, AACo, GradLink, AMIST, Fletchers International and other industry supporters.

The top 10 finalists and the Coach’s pick teams will go on to participate in an industry training week in Brisbane in September. Student feedback from the week was that it “opened their eyes” to the possibilities within the Australian red meat industry. “We learned so much more than we could have imagined. Its better than any other week we have ever had at uni.” the group of Sydney University students said. “The networking not only among industry professionals but also peers was really beneficial.”

Finalists Selected for Industry Training Week in Brisbane:
Kate Krause- University of Adelaide
Hamish Fuller- University of Sydney
Claudia Nielsen- Murdoch University
Kate Werfel- University of Adelaide
Kieran Smith- University of New England
Jennifer Mitchell- University of New England
Claire Marriott- University of New England
Jess Paton- University of New England
Emma Peters- University of Adelaide
Priscilla Evans- University of Sydney
Margot Sullivan- Marcus Oldham

Coaches XI selected for Industry Training week in Brisbane:
Jade Marshall – University of Adelaide
Josh Turner – Tocal Agriculture College
Renae Piggott – Murdoch University
Sally Morrissey – Unniversity of Queensland
Angus Rigney – Marcus Oldham
Hannah Commins – University of Tasmania
Archibald Weston – University of Sydney
Gabby Parker – Central Queensland University
Nicole Fairley – Charles Sturt University
Madi Gallagher – La Trobe University
Mitchell Priestly – University of Melbourne
Ben Wieland – University of New England.

Following the industry training week in Brisbane five students from the top 10 finalists will be selected for a tour of the American meat industry in the New Year.

For more information and a full list of winners click here to see the 2019 ICMJ Awards List