MacKillip was presented with the AEV Richardson Memorial Award after winning the NSA final in Tasmania recently, an event sponsored by Biosecurity Tasmania - Plant Diagnostic Services.
AIA is the peak industry body for agricultural and natural resource management professionals in Australia, supporting and enabling the development and broader industry recognition of members. AIA recently developed the Chartered Agriculturalist (CAg) scheme, an industry-first professional accreditation program.
Five outstanding agricultural science students represented their state in the NSA final by presenting their research and findings to attendees at an AIA conference near Launceston.
MacKillop also won the People's Choice Award for her presentation on ‘Soldier flies for protein production and waste reduction', her entomology research topic at the University of Sydney.
"I'm very honoured and proud to have won such a prestigious award. I'm very grateful to the AIA for running the event and to all the sponsors for their support of it," she said.
"The calibre of presentations was outstanding and I really enjoyed seeing the diversity and high standard of research that students nationally have completed. Congratulations to all the other students."
Second place in the National Student Award went to Max Weidenbach from Tasmania and in third was Daniel Petersen from South Australia.
AIA director, Dr Daniel Tan, said the 2019 student awards final showcased why the future of Australian agriculture is in safe hands.
"As the peak body for agricultural professionals, we are pleased that AIA is able to attract the brightest and most talented agriculture students from universities across Australia to compete for the prestigious AEV Richardson National Student Award," he commented.
"This year's student presentations were on diverse topics of soil science, plant pathology, weed science and entomology.
"I am very pleased that Stephanie has won this award, a testament to the excellent agricultural teaching and research programs at the University of Sydney."
