EVENTS: Membership 2009-10 Current Rural Press Club of Victoria membership fees expire on 30 June 2009. The club welcomes membership by all people interested in the rural industry. We have both a country and metropolitan base from both print and electronic media. Other members include agribusiness organisations, financial, government, marketing and public relations. Membership for the 2009-10 financial year is now available. Please visit the membership area of our website for more information. Victorian journalist wins national rural award An international panel of judges has selected Victorian journalist John Conroy as Australia's best rural writer of the year. The Border Mail journalist has won the Australian Star Prize for Rural Journalism for his story 'The Drover's Lament'. The Wodonga-based journalist will now represent Australia in the world's most prestigious professional competition for rural journalists working in the print sector. For more information, please view the media release below. John has just been named one of the three finalists in the international award. The winner will be announced at the Congress on August 4. Click here to view the media release. Pictured left to right: John Deere Territory Manager Ross Lloyd, ACAJ Star Prize winner John Conroy, The Border Mail and RPCV President Ed Gannon (also The Weekly Times editor). Graeme Samuel to speak at a special breakfast meeting Water, fertiliser, fuel, supermarket power and telecommunications are all issues vital to rural Australia and all of which are under the microscope of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Mr Graeme Samuel, who has been chairman of the ACCC since 2003, will present his insights when he addresses the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Don't miss your chance to attend, hear Mr Samuel's address and share your views on the morning of Friday, July 17. Click here to download the breakfast notice Click here to make a booking. August speaker On Thursday August 6, the Managing Director of ABC Mr Mark Scott will address the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Mark has been in this role since July 2006 and brings a wealth of experience from his positions at the Fairfax newspaper group where he was Editor in Chief of The Age, The Sunday Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald. The ABC is one of Australia's main forums for public debate. Publicly funded and proudly independent, it is often under scrutiny but Mark Scott makes it clear that he sets high standards. More information regarding this address will be posted soon.