Made in the Hunter, and the Central Coast, and the Upper Hunter (you get our drift), for the world...

What a year it has been for HMA and the manufacturing sector throughout our region.  The 2023 winners and finalists highlight the resilience, excellence and forward thinking nature of the industry within the Hunter.

We’ve delivered an active calendar of events and interacted with hundreds of manufacturers across the year through our Insights events, local networking events, Meet Your Local Manufacturer visits, online industry capability building and of course, through applications into the awards program. And what an awards night it was... SO many world-leading examples of "Made in the Hunter, for the world".

We welcomed new board members, Steph Loadsman from KPMG and Luke Sasse from Hi-VIS who contributed an exceptional amount to the broader HMA organisation. I thank each of our board members for their input and support and look forward to working as a group again in 2024.

We also welcomed a new Admin & Events Manager, Alan Parry. Alan made a great start in digitising a lot of our internal systems and processes along with bringing new eyes to our events. I think we can all agree that Alan did a stellar job on the 2023 Gala Event. Next year, Alan is taking on a new challenge, returning to University to complete his Masters in Teaching. We wish him all the very best. I will say, we are in very capable hands in 2024 though, as we welcome Adrienne Donnelly into the Admin & Events Manager role, and a long-time friend of HMA Tracey Freinberger who will be supporting us with our marketing and communications.

An exciting year ahead...

Following on from this year's awards, we held a Director’s Strategy Day to consider ways to improve the event in 2024, including a refinement of the criteria and application process, and continued efforts to celebrate and profile the awards finalists - on the awards evening, and throughout the year.

I am excited to share that 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of HMA. In celebration of this milestone, we are dedicated to making it an even more remarkable event. In fact, we aim to make it our biggest yet! Stay tunes for more updates in the new year, but this will be a year that you won’t want to miss!

Reliving the memories!

If you happened to miss this year's awards winners, you can read all about it on our website. Also, there's a photo gallery online as well. And, thanks to Pete Delahunty from Black Sheep Digital, we have, for the first time, a highlights reel from our 2023 Gala Awards Night. You can watch it below and re-live the memories of a great night of celebration.

You will also see this video on our social media pages (LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook) if you would like to share it!

Thanks to all!

On behalf of the HMA board,  I want to thank all our sponsors, partners and supporters, our judges for their contribution to the awards program, to all those that entered the awards, to our team and those amazing people behind the scenes that put our awards event together, and to each of you for being a part of the HMA community… for your interest, support and dedication toward continuing the promotion of manufacturing and the Hunter Manufacturing Awards.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season filled with warmth, laughter, and well-deserved moments of rest. May your machines pause, your assembly lines slow, and your hardworking teams find time to rejuvenate during this special time. Here's to a peaceful break and the chance to recharge for a prosperous New Year ahead.

Christmas Cheers,
Jacqui Daley
Chair - Hunter Manufacturing Awards