South Australia’s best celebrated in 2015 Regional Awards

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By David Russell

The best of South Australia’s regions have been showcased across the state, with the final 2015 Regional Awards presentation evening held last night (28 October) in Naracoorte.

The event, which celebrated finalists and awarded winners in the Limestone Coast region, marked the end of the affectionately dubbed ‘Regional Awards Roadshow’; a series of presentation evenings hosted by Brand South Australia in seven regional centres around the state.

In total the Regional Awards received 2,160 nominations, resulting in 602 entries over the seven regions.

Brand South Australia CEO Karen Raffen said the competition this year was the strongest it had ever been.

“Both the winners and finalists should be extremely proud to make it this far,” she said.

One of the winners at last night’s presentation evening was first-time entrant Generations of Jazz, from Mount Gambier, who won The Programmed Festivals and Events Award in the Limestone Coast region. Board member and Sponsorship and Marketing Manager Jim Kirkup told Inside South Australia that even though Generations in Jazz had been running for a quarter of a century, it had gone from strength to strength in the past few years.

“With three-and-a-half thousand secondary school students coming to Mount Gambier each year and that number increasing, this is becoming a major attraction and a major event, not only for the region but for South Australia,” he said.

Victoria's Scotch College competing at Generations of Jazz.

Victoria’s Scotch College competing at Generations of Jazz.

While many of the students come from around South Australia, the largest contingent is actually from Victoria, with other bands from as far away as New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia.

The organisation that drives the festival has grown to include 150 volunteers, and the prize money up for grabs has risen to an incredible $25,000. Jim believes the economic impact the event has on the region was key to Generations in Jazz’s success in the 2015 Regional Awards.

“All these kids that come to the Limestone Coast have to stay somewhere… we billet them out in the community, in sporting organisations that have the facilities, and we put them in private homes if people want to go away for the weekend and let a band stay in their home.”

Another winner in this year’s awards was Flinders Ranges Premium Grain, who won the Foodland Premium Food and Wine from our Clean Environment – Food Award. CEO Peter Barrie jumped off a header to tell Inside South Australia the company was struggling to keep up with the huge demand for their product.

“The major markets for us at the moment are India and the Middle East… we’ve just received an order to supply 1200 tonnes (of flour) to Dubai before Christmas,” he said.

Wheat being harvested in South Australia.

Peter believes the high quality of Flinders Ranges Premium Grain’s flour product is the company’s point of different.

“The secret of our grain is… one particular variety that is a sponge and dough variety. That’s really been a major part of the story. The fact that it is grown and stored by three or four farmers means that we have a very tight control over the soil type and the condition it is grown in.

“We have extremely consistent flour, whereas if you buy wheat out of one of the major storers it will probably have a dozen different varieties coming from a large range of soil types.

“We also have a very high protein wheat… between 12.5 and 13 percent flour protein. That gives us a very strong extensible dough which appeals to the artisan baking trade.

“And we have undertaken some work with the University of Adelaide to do some research to come up with a process to extent the shelf life of whole grain flour which is becoming quite popular… so we are continually looking for ways to improve our product and how we sell it.”

To see the full list of Regional Awards winners visit the Brand South Australia website.

 

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