At the biennial Conference of the Australian Rangeland Society, CSIRO Publishing and The Rangeland Journal jointly sponsor prizes for the Best Poster and the Best Oral Presentation for work relevant to the interests and scope of the journal. The prize consists of an amount of cash, a certificate and a year’s subscription to the journal.

Posters and oral papers presented at the 2019 Conference were assessed by the society’s publishing committee, comprising the Editor-in-Chief of the journal and their nominees. The judging committee considered two main criteria for the prizes, as follows:

• Impact of the poster or presentation (clear and concise language, good supporting graphs/tables/photographs etc).

• Strength of the case being made (e.g. sound scientific method used, logical and robust case study evidence, strong logic and supporting evidence for a management technique)

2019 Winners (Presenter’s name in bold)

Best presentation

Sarah McDonald (Research Officer, Pastures & Rangelands, Department of Primary Industries, Trangie, NSW)
Grazing with rest: what we know and where to from here?

Commendations

Cecile Godde (Research Scientist, CSIRO – The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD)
Global rangeland systems at threat under climate change and variability.

Enke-Orchlin Lkhagvadorj (PhD Student, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT)
Herders’ preference for different grassland management policy in Mongolia

Mick Kelly¹, Geoff Simpson, Mal Ridges and Eren Turak
⁽¹ACH Mapping Senior Project Officer, Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment, Buronga, NSW)
Community based monitoring for tracking biodiversity change in Rangelands

Best poster

Brian Dohnt¹ and Russell Grant²
(¹ Senior Land Services Officer, Western Local Land Services, Cobar, NSW.
² formerly NRM Manager, Western Local Land Services, Cobar, NSW)
Assessing the effectiveness of kangaroo management through total grazing management pressure fencing.

Commendations

Matthew Fletcher and Kath Ryan
(Development Officers, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Kununurra, WA)
What can WARMS tell us about White Grass (Sehima nervosum) in Kimberley pastures?

Milou Dekkers
(PhD Student, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD)
Watching the grasses grow: using UAVs and satellites to monitor rangeland species composition.

Hayley Macmillan
(Senior Scientist, Beef & Sheep, Animal Science, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane, QLD)
Low volume, high concentrated splatter gun technology – a useful tool for opening up dense ‘bellyache bush’ (Jatropha gossypilifolia) infestations.