South Australia’s best celebrated at regional awards night
Supporters and champions of the state’s agricultural and regional communities were recognised at the 2025 Regional Showcase and AgTown of the Year awards.
Representatives of the state’s rural and regional communities, local and state government departments and media gathered at Lot.100 in the Adelaide Hills to celebrate rural and regional SA.
The Regional Showcase Awards, run by Solstice Media, the publisher of InDaily, SALIFE and CityMag, brought together the finalists from the 137 stories published in the last year across the publications about regional South Australia.
Hosted by Adelaide media identity Ali Clarke, more than 150 guests came together for the awards, which include six individual categories culminating in the People’s Choice Award. The stories are written by a combination of Solstice Media reporters and regional freelance journalists.
The event’s inaugural guest speaker was Kelly Johnson, founder of SPhiker, an award-winning South Australian agribusiness transforming food waste into opportunity. Kelly, who is also South Australia’s 2025 Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award Winner, is a passionate advocate for responsible consumption and rural innovation, creating a business that supports both environmental and economic sustainability.
The Regional Resilience Award presented by Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) went to Mid Murray Council and community volunteers for its loving transformation of an 118-year-old paddle steamer. The project took more than 3000 volunteer hours over more than 15 years to restore the PS Canally, once the fastest steamboat on the river, back to its former glory.
You might like
St Agnes Distillery’s release of its “oldest bottled spirit ever released in Australia” saw the Renmark company acknowledged with the Business Innovation Award. Five hundred bottles of its new XXO 50 Year Old Exceptional Reserve were released to celebrate 100 years as a distillery.
The men behind the Macclesfield Men’s Shed were recognised with the Meaningful Connections Award presented by Seniors Card. The Shed was also awarded Shed of the Year at the Australian Men’s Shed Association’s 10th national gathering in Murray Bridge in 2024.
Women were also celebrated with the Lifelong Learning Award which went to Cassie Fuller from Gleeson Collective workspace in Clare and Jamestown’s Kelly Kelly Legal director and principal solicitor Kelly Morgan. The duo are the masterminds behind the StartHer initiative, a regional scholarship and mentoring program that works to empower women into start-up businesses.
Stay informed, daily
The volunteers behind the Loxton Historical Village won the Community Empowerment Award. The village features 45 replica buildings and displays including a blacksmith store, school building, general store, Loxton’s first newspaper The Clarion, a chapel and a telephone exchange.
Rachel Marcus, an Outback caterer who cooks for film crews on location in the far reaches of South Australia, was a resounding winner for the People’s Choice Award. Marcus inherited the business from her father, running a commercial kitchen out of an enormous blue bus with the seats ripped out.
Picking up the award on her behalf, friend and colleague Belinda Heinrich relayed a message from Marcus, currently on set in Coober Pedy. “I’m eternally grateful to have a career that takes me to rural locations, and it’s no secret I’d rather be in the Outback than in a film studio in the city,” the message said.
InDaily editor Belinda Willis, who commissions the stories, said the Regional Showcase Awards play a vital role in celebrating regional success stories that sit alongside the challenges faced by communities beyond the city.
“We know that many of our local regions have been doing it tough,” she said. “It was not too long ago that River Murray flooding was wreaking havoc on those living along its banks. We are still experiencing the devastating impacts of drought and now the impacts of the harmful algal bloom.
“InDaily doggedly covers these events, but our Regional Showcase Awards show it is just as important to continue celebrating the successes, the people, the businesses and the communities that make our regions unique.
“Our team of regional freelance writers, journalists from our team at InDaily and SALIFE along with our university interns have managed to find a heartening range of stories that showcase the resilience and creativity of these communities.
“They are stories that not only connect with our regions but also our city readers.”
South Australia’s Agricultural Town of the Year was also announced on the night, with first-time finalist Lameroo beating out Keith and Kimba to take home the award.
