The Katherine Show has announced it will be judging 69 categories online as organisers strive to maintain momentum towards 2021.
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Organisers have innovated the show's usual competitions into a virtual format with entries sent into staff and winners awarded online.
What was to be the 55th show this year was cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions.
Some show classes such as art are being condensed down to a smaller number of categories, however the show has also introduced its first ever 'Novelty' section in an effort to provide some comedic relief to its community.
The inclusion of competitions such as 'Horse fancy dress' and 'Chicken lookalike' will surely provide belly laughs across our region, and Admin Officer Lauren Kingsley says this an effort by the show to give back.
"We rely on community support to put on the show so we were motivated to ensure they had something to look forward to this year," she said.
"We're trying to keep as much of the show's structure as possible so we'll be announcing winners via Facebook on the 17th and 18th of July when the show would have been on.
"We've still got judges for every category so it's still completely legitimate, but we do hope this year's extra categories give people the chance just to be a bit silly and have a bit of fun," Ms Kingsley said.
The writing section will also ask residents to reflect deeply on their experience of COVID-19 with categories themed around ANZAC Day under the pandemic and people's personal experiences of isolation.
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Entry fees have been waived this year and so prizes will be non-monetary too, in the form of commemorative purple cards themed around Katherine under the pandemic.
For the show themselves, Ms Kingsley believes it was essential to maintain a presence this year.
"It's been a huge effort to build the Katherine Show up to what it is now and we've got to keep that momentum going," she said.
"We would expect to see a big turnout next year after the break, but a lot of the people who usually exhibit here are doing it tough right now so that's something we'll have to watch.
"We've had a few businesses approach us to sponsor which is fantastic and it'd be so much harder to get things going again next year if we stopped completely now.
"Doing the virtual show allows us to still provide something for the community, to keep our name out there and everybody here in their jobs," Ms Kingsley said.
You can find a full catalogue of show categories available this year on the Katherine Show's website.
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