Excellence in Ag Award
The Excellence in Ag Award recognizes and rewards outstanding INFB Young Farmers & Ag Professionals members who do not derive the majority of their income from an owned agricultural operation and have not in any of the past three years, but who actively contribute and grow their involvement in Farm Bureau and agriculture. Applications must be submitted via the online application portal. If you applied for the Excellence in Ag Award in 2020, you can access your previous application by logging in with your existing Reviewr account.
Basic eligibility requirements
- Must be a voting member of Indiana Farm Bureau.
- Between the ages of 18 and 35 as of Jan. 31, 2022.
- An Indiana resident.
- Applicant must not have derived a majority of his/her income from an owned production agriculture enterprise during any of the past three years.
Helpful entry form & application guidelines
- Do not use name, the name of county, or any names that may bring about the recognition or identification of the applicant’s county or state beyond the entry form.
- The entry form and application must be completed in first person narrative (i.e. I, me, we, etc.) for questions I-V. Applicants must use “A1” and “A2” to denote each applicant for all of question VI.
- Do not use abbreviations or acronyms.
Presentation guidelines & tips (final three competitors only)
- Presentation will be an interactive, 25-minute presentation, in which the applicant has an opportunity to share the contents of his/her entire application in narrative form with a panel of three judges and the audience.
- The only visual means in which to deliver the information is through a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation.
- Verbal and presentation references to applicant name, state and county will be allowed during the presentation.
- No props (including notes), sound or video will be allowed during the presentation.
Three state finalists will be honored at the State Convention during the awards program.
Sponsors
The state winner and spouse receive:
- John Deere Gator courtesy of Farm Credit Services.
- $3,000 cash prize from Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.
- All expenses paid trip to AFBF Annual Convention in Atlanta, Ga. Jan. 7-12 (pending COVID-19 restrictions at the time of event).
- Two runners-up receive a $1,000 cash prize from Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.
Deadline
All applications must be submitted via the online portal on or before May 1 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Scanned or emailed entries will not be accepted or qualify as a submission. A copy of the Excellence in Ag application is available to download so that you may preview the questions. If you use this document, you must paste your answers into the online version of the application to submit.
Application is available to download, but applications must submitted using the online portal above.
Downloadable assets:
- Excellence in Ag Application
- Excellence in Ag Signature Page
- Excellence in Ag Application Rubric
- Excellence in Ag Presentation Rubric
Judging
All applications and presentations will be judged by the same set of judges.
| APPLICATION | POINTS | PERCENT |
Questions 2-4 | 180 points | 45% |
| Goals | 40 points | 10% |
| Farm Bureau Experience | 90 points | 22.5% |
| Other Leadership Experience | 80 points | 20% |
| Application Form (Writing is clear, descriptive and free of grammatical errors | 10 points | 2.5% |
| MAXIMUM POINTS | 400 points | 100%
(80% of Total Score)
|
| PRESENTATION | POINTS | PERCENT |
| Delivery of Presentation | 30 points | 30.0% |
| Content of Presentation | 40 points | 40.0% |
| Responses to Questions | 30 points | 30.0% |
| MAXIMUM POINTS | 100 points | 100%
(20% of Total Score)
|
