The five awards - Bayer Grower of the Year, AgriRisk High Achiever of the Year, ADAMA Chris Lehmann Trust Young Cotton Achiever of the Year, Cotton Seed Distributors Researcher of the Year and Incitec Pivot Fertilisers Service to Industry Award - recognise excellence and high achievement throughout the cotton supply chain.

Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said the awards provide a valuable opportunity to recognise Australian cotton's high achievers and the significant contributions made by people in the industry.

"The Australian Cotton Industry Awards are a highlight of the year as they recognise the hard work of all who make Australian cotton such a special part of our country's agricultural story," he said.

"Whether you're a grower, a ginner, a product supplier, consultant, agronomist, or researcher, I strongly encourage you to nominate for the awards and recognise those who have made enormous efforts to better our industry and country.

"I also want to acknowledge the support of the awards program's major sponsors for this year - Bayer, ADAMA, AgriRisk, Cotton Seed Distributors, and Incitec Pivot Fertilisers."

Boggabilla farmers Tom and Charm Arnott were last year's big winners, taking out the Grower of the Year award, while Moree's Murray Connor from Australian Food and Fibre was named the Young Cotton Achiever of the Year.

Charm said the awards program was an excellent opportunity to be involved in.

"To be the recipient of this award was a great honour especially given all the finalists had incredible businesses," she said.

"The judging process looks at every part of your farming business.

"Our perspective is that it has been an excellent opportunity to showcase our whole operation, and it gives others the chance to see how we are fine-tuning our farming business. In turn, we have also learnt from the other finalists, the judging panel and the broader cotton community.

"It has been tough in most cotton production regions this year, including for us in the Macintyre Valley. Farm productivity is much lower than usual but we would highly recommend everyone gets involved with this year's awards program."

Cash prizes are on offer for the successful recipients of the 2020 Australian Cotton Industry Awards and nominations are open to both individuals and teams. Anyone in the industry can nominate themselves or others through the nomination form, which can be downloaded at https://cottonaustralia.com.au/awards-nominations

Nominations close at 5pm on Friday, March 27.

Awards recipients will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday, August 6, to be held in conjunction with the 2020 Australian Cotton Conference, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (August 4 to 6).