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The Toyota SA National Young Auctioneer Competition is a well-known Plaas Media project that aims to assist young and aspiring auctioneers in taking their first steps towards a career in livestock auctioneering. This competition has delivered auctioneers such as Steven Matthews, Gavin Matthews, and Barco van Niekerk, to name just a few. This year’s competition surpassed all expectations.
After two years of having hosted the competition online due to Covid restrictions, the 2022 competition’s qualifying rounds were held at various agricultural shows across the country. Four regional rounds were presented with the final that took place on 16 September at Nampo Cape.
Read more about the Toyota/Kwanala Farmer of the Year winner here.
The regional rounds
This year the competition received a total of 15 entries of which six participants competed at the first regional round at Bloem Show. During the first regional round Jurie Burger took first place, with Vincent Pike second, and Chris Goosen in third place.
Shortly after the Bloem Show round, the Plaas Media team travelled to Cradock for the next regional round held at Marlow Agricultural High School’s OVK farmer’s day. Johan Moolman was the winner of this round and André Herselman was in second place.
As is the tradition, the third regional round took place at Royal Show and this year Tom Hodgson came out tops with Fiso Hadebe in second place, and Hans Schutte third. The last regional round was held during the KragDag expo in Gauteng, with Flekkie du Toit taking first place and Ismail Laher second.
Due to other obligations, some of the regional winners could not take part in the final. The six participants who took part in the final round at Nampo Cape was Vincent Pike, Chris Goosen, Johan Moolman, Tom Hodgson, Fiso Hadebe, and Ismail Laher.
Read more about Nampo Cape 2022 here.
Exceptional talent
This was the first time that the final round of the competition was held at Nampo Cape with the BKB Livestock Complex serving as the venue. The judges were Appie Maritz, auctioneer at BKB, Andrew Miller, freelance stud stock auctioneer and auctioneer at In2Assets, and Hein Vollgraaff, former auctioneer at BKB. Pierre Vlok of BKB was the master of ceremonies. The six finalists each auctioned off two lots in a mock auction. The animals used in the mock auction were part of the BKB Merino Classic.
Read more about the 2022 BKB Merino Classic here.
Appie Maritz said in an interview with Farm TV, that the participants in this year’s competition were exceptionally good and that the competition was stiff. There was a mere one-point difference between the scoring of the winner and the runner-up.
Who took the crown?
Our 2022 Toyota SA National Young Auctioneer is Tom Hodgson from KwaZulu-Natal! This is certainly a well-deserved win and Tom receives a cash prize of almost R60 000 which will allow him to take part in the Calgary Stampede international auctioneer competition in Canada next year. The judges agreed that Tom will go far. Fiso Hadebe took an excellent second place and Vincent Pike was third.
Congratulations to each of the finalists and thank you for your hard work! – Plaas Media press release
Keep an eye on the press for more information about the 2023 Toyota SA National Young Auctioneer Competition or send an email to deidre@plaasmedia.co.za for more information.
