Cotton growers and researchers from the Darling Downs are among the finalists for this year’s Australian Cotton Industry Awards.

Growers Greg and Maryann Bender from Chinchilla, along with researchers Joseph Foley, Malcolm Gillies and Alison McCarthy from the University of Southern Queensland and Kristen Knight from Toowoomba, have all been nominated for awards.

Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay said the finalists were selected based on their contribution to the cotton industry across a wide range of areas, including farming best practice, research and development, innovation, leadership and industry advocacy.

Kay says each of the finalists had made outstanding contributions to the industry and deserved recognition and the nominees for this year’s awards program was of a very high standard.

The group of people represent the strengths of industry, innovation, dedication, the sharing of ideas and the drive to figure out a way to do things better.

The annual awards program is important to our industry because it allows us to recognise excellence and hard work, foster future growth and improvement across the industry.

The judging panel travels to the finalists’ home regions to meet and assess each of the candidates.

Cash prizes are on offer for the winners across all categories, with an additional research bursary for Researcher of the Year.

The recipients of the Australian Cotton Industry Awards will be announced at the 2018 Australian Cotton Conference.