Congratulations to the recipient of the CRDC Chris Lehmann Cotton Young Achiever Award for 2023, announced tonight at the Australian Cotton Industry Awards - fashion designer & founder of label Madi & Pip, Emma Bond.
Emma is passionate about Australian cotton and educating brands and customers about our fibre. She is a graduate of the CRDC & Cotton Australia Future Cotton Leaders program, attended the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen this year, and has even designed a bridal collection featuring Aussie cotton.
The Chris Lehmann Young Achiever of the Year Award is named in honour of the late Chris Lehmann, and provides recognition of the rising stars in our industry - like this year’s finalists: Emma, Kate Lumber and Jacob Thuijs!
CRDC has been informally supporting this award for many years as part of the judging panel, which is why this year, we’re so pleased to support as the award sponsor for the first time.
As part of CRDC’s support, Emma will be offered the opportunity to attend the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation’s TRAIL program, to further support her development as one of our industry’s future leaders.
CRDC would like to acknowledge Cotton Australia for hosting the Australian Cotton Industry Awards; the Chris Lehmann family and the Chris Lehmann Trust for their ongoing support of the Young Achiever Award award; this year’s finalists Emma, Kate and Jacob; the judging panel: chair and cottongrower Aaron Kiely, previous award recipient Emma Ayliffe, Steve Madden from the Steve Lehmann Trust, Chris’s daughter Jess Lehmann and CRDC’s Ruth Redfern.
