Lilly Munce was announced as the 2023 North Coast National Young Woman and Heidi McClure as the Teen Showgirl at an event at the Lismore Turf Club in North Lismore last night.

While the 2023 Elders Back Lismore Show will done and dusted by this time next week, the young ladies will embark on a twelve-month journey of self-improvement which will end at next year's Lismore Show when a new winner will be announced.

Andrea Bryant, Julia Taranto and Andrew Gordon were in the hot seat judging the Young Woman entrants, with Shannon Moran and Sheree Barnsley judging the Teen Showgirls.

(From left: Teen Showgirl entrants Ashlee Rugendyke and Heidi McClure, Young Woman entrants Eliza O'Toole, Tegan Maluta and Lilly Munce.)

Andrew Gordon praised the young ladies for having the courage to nominate for the event and for Tegan Maluta to nominate for a second year. "You are the guys that are ensuring that this movement, this show society and I guess life in general, is in really good hands. This needs to be recognised because there are three of you tonight (referring to Young Woman), out of a population of 40,000 people. Three of you have the courage to turn up and be grilled by the judges."

As host Marilyn Coles said, "The aim of the Land Sydney Royal Ag Shows New South Wales Young Woman competition, and yes, that's what it is called, that big long name, is to find a person most suited to represent young rural women of New South Wales.

"This covers many visual and informal situations during the Sydney Royal Easter Show as well as her travels within New South Wales and interstate. The society therefore seeks an articulate and presentable person with a pleasant personality. The winner will be required to meet a wide variety of people and should be able to converse intellectually about Australia, in general, and her own district. She will be interviewed by press, radio and television and will be asked to speak about her experiences before a range of groups. "

"The RAS defines a local representative as a person with strong personal, educational or business associations within the local community. She must also be approved and nominated by her local show society and have a genuine interest in and understanding all rural and regional issues."

The judges listened as the five girls introduced themselves to the judges and those in attendance.

Tegan Maluta is studying to get her real estate license and has been competing at the Lismore Show since 2008 showing her horses. "I would say the reason why I entered again this year was because I would love to represent the Lismore community and be an ambassador for young and up and coming young women in our area and to encourage other young girls who might be struggling with wanting to be a voice but not quite knowing how to and just to encourage them to get up, have more of a go and get more involved in the community."

Tegan has been involved in the community throughout her life, volunteering regularly at the Lismore Soup Kitchen before school and for October she is walking 150km to raise awareness for mental health with the Black Dog Institute.

Eliza O'Toole is a garlic farmer who also works as a disability support worker. She was inspired to enter the Young Woman competition after her father took her to the Lismore Show when she was younger. "I saw the girls wearing all the sashes and it was just really inspiring because they looked so confident. It inspired me to do that one day. The confidence behind it, because I struggle with confidence." 

Lilly Munce is about to finish her local schooling as she is doing her HSC at Woodlawn, where she was school captain. "I really grew as a person and I think not only being a voice for people within my youth group, but also to the broader school community. That was something that I really, really enjoyed and something I would love to continue doing for as long as I possibly can. I think that I was really able to come out of my shell a little bit and embrace a lot of leadership qualities that I didn't really know I had beforehand."

Lilly will be competing in showjumping at this year's show and has been since she was put on the back of a horse when she was two.

(2023 North Coast National Young Woman of the Year Lilly Munce (middle) with runner-up Tegan Maluta and Eliza O'Toole)

Lilly Munce not only walked away with the title of 2023 North Coast National Young Woman, but also $1,000 cash, a 345 Deportment course at Dubbo plus a $200 travel allowance, a $500 gift voucher from Paris in the Strand and a watch from the Jewellery Design Centre.

Ashlee Rugendyke and Heidi McClure were this year's entrants in the Teen Showgirl competition.

Ashlee is fifteen and entered to promote the young woman competition and the agricultural industry. Ashlee is already breeding her own cattle, "I have Braford's and I've been breeding them for a little while now. I started showing them in 2018. They're coming along nicely now."

Heidi is sixteen, grew up on a cane farm and is currently studying agriculture at TAFE and is working towards her Certificate III. In the future Ashlee would like to work on a station (sheep or cattle), "They're currently screaming out for workers and it would be a great opportunity."

(Teen Showgirl winner Heidi McClure (right) and runner-up Ashlee Rugendyke)

The Teen Showgirl winner Heidi McClure received $200 cash and a necklace.

North Coast National President John Gibson was optimistic about this year's 2023 Elders Back Lismore Show, "We're expecting big crowds and the pavilion is full. We'll have over 300 head of cattle here next week. And I understand the caravans are coming in tomorrow, something like 20 or 30 caravans.

North Coast National President John Gibson told the crowd as much as he, as a farmer, would like several inches of rain, there is a big chance of this being a dry 2023 Elders Back Lismore Show. And it is looking that way with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a cloudy first day (Thursday) with 23 degrees, partly cloudy Friday with 26 degrees and a sunny 29 degrees for the final day on Saturday.

You can pre-book your tickets here.