Top Honours for Maegen
“Both Jack and Maegen are incredibly focused, passionate, and driven to create meaningful change in their sectors. Maegen’s leadership in a male-dominated industry is outstanding, and Jack’s holistic approach to integrating innovative practices on his farm demonstrates his forward-thinking mindset”
Top Honours for Maegen
The Zanda McDonald Award has named its 2025 winners, with Australian Jack O’Connor and New Zealander Maegen Blom taking the top honours.
New Zealander Maegen Blom, 24, is Operations Manager at family-owned business Mills Bay Mussels in Marlborough, supplying restaurants, wholesalers and supermarkets across New Zealand with their Greenshell mussels. Maegen is also Founding Member of Young Fish NZ, which connects young professionals in the seafood industry.
The Award recognises exceptional young leaders from the primary sector and for the first time ever, one of the recipients is from our industry - well done Maegen, we're very proud of you!!
Winners were originally set to be unveiled at the annual Impact Summit on the Gold Coast, but were instead announced through the Awards' online platforms due to the disruption caused by Cyclone Alfred.
Read more about Maegen’s achievement here or you can listen to an interview with Jamie Mackay from The Country where he chats with Shane McMananway, the founder, and this year's winners Maegen and Jack.
Zanda McDonald was a prominent identity in the Australian beef and livestock industry and was proud to be a farmer who worked tirelessly to encourage young people to work in the industry that he loved. He died in April 2013 at the age of 41, following a tragic accident on his Queensland cattle property.
Out of mate-ship and respect for Zanda, one of agriculture's natural leaders, this trans-Tasman award was born in 2014. It is now run independently by the Zanda McDonald Award Foundation, with directors made up of industry leaders, and backed by a group of supportive businesses and organisations in Australia and New Zealand.
The Award is open to passionate and determined individuals aged 21 - 35 years who are working in the agri-business sectors of either Australia or New Zealand, and who demonstrate a passion for agriculture and natural leadership ability. Applications are open for the month of October each year.