Tweet
Four finalists for the prestigious Young Marketer of the Year Award have been announced ahead of the VMA Annual Awards judging day in London next week: Killian Gaffney (Head of sales and marketing, UK & Ireland, Chanelle Group), Amy Scott (Equine Brand Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Ltd.), Rob Simpson (Senior Product Manager, Ruminant Cattle Young stock, MSD) and Nikki Barclay (Senior Product Manager, Bravecto, MSD).
Award organiser and one of the judges, VMA committee member Dr Mo Gannon from MG&A, says: “The finalists should be really proud of themselves, we had a fantastic number of entries this year, spanning companion animal, farm animal and those marketing within the practice environment. The quality of submissions from all candidates was exceptional and the best it’s been since the Award began. This made judging between some of the candidates a real challenge!”
Mo explains how the finalists were selected: “Each candidate was scored independently by both myself and Stephen Dann (Business Impact Solutions Ltd) against the criteria listed on the VMA website. These scores were then reviewed, amalgamated and discussed. There was a great deal of debate on who should be awarded the final places, with a strong case being made for each entrant. On further review it was decided to take through four finalists this year, instead of the usual three.”
The successful finalists will now attend the judging day in London on 26th February to discuss their nomination in more detail and complete a short case study. They will also be invited to attend the VMA Annual Awards event on Friday 15th March 2019 at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel, where the winning candidate will be announced.
With generous sponsorship from British Dairying magazine and supported by the VMA, the YMOTY winner will receive a £2,000 bursary for their on-going marketing training and development as well as a personal prize of £500 in cash.
The winner is also invited to join the VMA Committee and receives complementary entry for up to three of the uniquely bespoke workshops, seminars and events organised by the VMA*(Excluding the Annual Awards). The three remaining finalists will each receive £100 in cash.
Mo concludes “This is a highly prestigious award designed to recognise a young and/or inexperienced marketer who has demonstrated an excellent grasp of marketing products and/or services in animal health. We would like to thank all candidates and their line managers for taking the time to enter and wish all our finalists the best of luck for judging day.“
For further information on this and all the awards visit https://vma.org.uk/young-marketer-of-the-year/or contact ymoty@vma.org.uk.