Upper Hunter Young Woman of the Year for 2024, Eloise Haigh, will be representing Zone 5 at the Royal Easter Show in April.
Muswellbrook hosted the regional final that saw 12 young women from the zone try to prove they would be the best candidate for the job.
“I was so shocked, there’s just such a phenomenal group of women that have made it to that stage so getting selected in itself, it just took a moment for it to sink in,” Eloise told The Hunter River Times.
“But it was just so exciting, Upper Hunter hasn’t hosted a Zone final for quite a while, we haven’t had a state finalist for quite a while, so that hometown excitement of hosting it and being selected, it was just out of this world.”
Nino Birchall representing Mudgee Show Society was also selected alongside Eloise, due to the number of shows in Zone 5 two representatives were chosen.
The Zone final was run the same as all other zones across the state, with candidates doing interviews with the judges in the morning and attending a luncheon with them, before getting glammed up for a dinner with all the candidates and their guests.
There was an on-stage component, all aimed at testing the young women’s public speaking skills and their knowledge of their community, current news, and agriculture.
Since being sashed in March, Eloise has been enjoying spending time out in the community getting to talk about the Young Woman competition and get to know more about the Upper Hunter.
“I’ve just been out and about at any community event that we’ve had a spot to go and help out at, from race days at Muswellbrook Race Club to the TV and Nostalgia Festival, the Aberdeen Highland Games, and just really getting out and about and just chatting with people,” she said.
“For me, it was not the big, flashy events, but it was just the times when people pull you aside for a chat, just the opportunity to connect with people that you wouldn’t normally meet in your day-to-day life.”
Come April Eloise will spend a week in Sydney at the Royal Easter Show completing official duties as well as interviews with judges to see if she can add the NSW Young Woman of the Year sash to her collection.
