THE FARMERS CLUB 2025 PINNACLE AWARDS
THURSDAY, 8TH MAY 2025
The Farmers Club Pinnacle Awards, now in their 28th year, are a regular fixture in the academic calendar and present a unique challenge for students to showcase their potential. The Pinnacle Awards are most generously sponsored by The Cave Foundation with administration and other support given by ADAS and The Farmers Club.
These Awards provide students who are planning to work in the agricultural industry an opportunity to demonstrate their potential and receive a valuable cash prize. Students who enter are encouraged to develop innovative, competitive and realistic business strategies that also meet the wider environmental requirements. Participation should involve very little additional work.
Tutors select and submit up to two projects which may form part of normal coursework and these are assessed against defined criteria and aims of the award scheme by a panel of judges from The Farmers Club and ADAS, and chaired by Professor Nigel Scollan, Director of Institute for Global Food Security at Queens University Belfast.
The eight short listed students are invited to The Farmers Club in London on Thursday,
8th May 2025 for an interview and will be asked to deliver a power point presentation of their project.
That evening the eight finalists will be invited to a formal dinner, with their family and lecturers present, when the prizes will be awarded:-
- First place receives the Nickerson Cup and The Farmers Club GOLD Student Pinnacle Award of £2000.
- Second place receives The Farmers Club SILVER Student Pinnacle Award of £1000.
- Third place receives The Farmers Club BRONZE Student Pinnacle Award of £600.
- All Finalists will receive one year’s membership of The Farmers Club.
Finalists' accommodation on Thursday, 8th May 2025, dinner is complimentary.
Why Enter?
The purpose of the Awards is to:
- Stimulate and encourage an innovative approach to business management within a context of productive farming which minimises environmental impact
- Provide encouragement to students to develop and enhance their knowledge and application of budgeting, financial assessment, commercial viability and the environment
- Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the issues involved in securing our food and enhancing the environment
- Develop problem-solving skills
- Provide an opportunity for students to develop communication and presentation skills.
Who can enter?
The Awards are open to full- time students on a college or university course that is related to the rural economy who will complete a practically based business related project as part of their course during the academic year 2024/2025.
Students are entered on the recommendation of their college or university as having undertaken a project of a high standard which is suitable for assessment in competition with others.
The project may form part of normal course work. Entries from group based projects are permitted, with the interview and presentation open to only one member of the group.
How to register
Registration is in two stages:
- Initial interest in submitting entries for the awards must be made by Friday, 20th December 2024.
- Submission of the entry including full contact details of the student and tutor by Friday, 4th April 2025. Electronic submissions in Word, Excel or PDF formats will be accepted.
NB: Entries received after the cut-off date may be excluded from the competition
- The Pinnacle Awards will be held at The Farmers Club on Thursday, 8th May 2025.
Please send Registrations and Submissions to the administrator of the Awards,
James Drysdale at ADAS. James will also be happy to answer any questions and give guidance on what is involved:-
Tel: 07918 747 739
Assessment criteria
Initially entries are assessed on the written project. For those students who are shortlisted, there will be individual interviews and power point presentations held in a competitive environment. All submissions should be realistic and relevant to current market conditions.
All entries:
- Investigation and identification of issues and priorities
- Appropriateness and innovation of the proposals
- Understanding and demonstration of the full range of business management skills balanced with a need to produce food and enhance the environment
- Methodology, and accuracy of the supporting data; including financial assessments
- Recommendations for follow up actions and progress monitoring.
Finalists will also be assessed on their interview and presentation skills.
Additional weighting may be given to entries that identify and address challenges that are topical and relevant to the current markets and conditions that farm businesses are operating in.
Notes to tutors
- This award scheme requires you to select and submit up to two projects.
- These could be a part of your students’ normal coursework, or a specific assignment.
- Work carried out by students working in groups is accepted. You should note only one student per group will be invited to the interview, presentation and award dinner, and if successful, there will be only one prize per group.
- Please identify suitable projects and candidates, bearing in mind the aims of the scheme and the assessment criteria when selecting your submissions.
- Students are likely to benefit from an early introduction to the Pinnacle Awards, for example at the beginning of a module that is likely to produce suitable pieces of work for submission. This is recommended to allow students time to prepare.
- Please make registrations and submissions by the deadlines.
If you have any questions or require guidance on what is involved, please do not hesitate to contact the administrator of the Awards, James Drysdale at ADAS.
Tel: 07918 747 739
Email: James.Drysdale@adas.co.uk