AUSTRALIAN PEST MANAGERS – NEW AWARDS FOR 2021

The popular Facebook group for Australian pest managers has announced the winners of its new NSW Pest Managers Award, as voted for by pest professionals.

Many pest managers will be familiar with the Australian Pest Managers Facebook group, a national industry Facebook group that allows pest managers across the country share tips and experiences.

The page is funded and managed by NSW pest manager Doug Balsom from Serial Pest Control. In addition to the national Australian Pest Managers page, there are Facebook pages for each state. This year saw the NSW Pest Managers launch their own award – NSW Pest Manager of the Year.

The finalists were decided by popular vote, with the nominees getting the most votes becoming finalists. The judges interviewed the finalists and picked the winners, with the results announced on October 8th.

The 2021 winners were:

• Pest Manager of the Year, 1-5 employees (sponsored by Pest Register) – Paul Kennedy, Wise Pest Control, Blaxland

• Pest Manager of the Year, 6-15 employees (sponsored by Sundew Solutions) – Danny Danil, SafeSpray, Sydney

• Contributor of the Year to the NSW Pest Industry (sponsored by Agserv) – Patrick Legey, Austrapest, Baulkham Hills

• Supplier of the Year (sponsored by Australian Pest Managers) was a tie between Agserv (Michael Harband) and Globe Pest Solutions (Gary English).

Each winner took home a prize of $500 and a trophy, courtesy of event sponsors.

Mr Balsom said he created the awards to recognise NSW pest managers and the hard work they do in the background for the industry.

He added, “In the future I’d love to see an awards program for every state in Australia to acknowledge all the businesses in the industry that keep grinding away every day, keeping Australian homes, people and business safe from pests.”

The awards are part of a wider plan of Mr Balsom’s to bring the industry together.

“I started the Australian Pest Managers group and the individual state pages as a way of giving back to the industry and to show support for manufacturers, suppliers, producers and educators of the industry. We also run a training and mentoring page as well.”

Going forward, he aims to use social media as a way to encourage conversation between those in the industry.