The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) have announced a new name for the state-renowned Sydney Royal Showgirl competition starting next year.

From 2022, the competition will be known as 'The Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year' and is intended to mark a new chapter in the competition's 60 year history.

RAS Showgirl Councillor Susan Wakeford said refreshing the program would continue to foster and encourage the competition's roots while resonating better with younger generations.

“Over the decades, the Sydney Royal Showgirl competition has brought together thousands of young women and offered the opportunity for them to represent their local community, show society and industry, providing a platform to develop themselves personally, professionally, and as future leaders,” Ms Wakeford said.

“As we celebrate 60 years in 2022, this new title will allow the program to remain an important platform that supports young women for 60 years to come.

"While the name continues to link to the show movement, it also opens up the opportunity for young leaders to enter from many and varied occupations that link to rural, regional, and remote NSW.”

The Coonamble Showgirl during the competition's early days in 1967 Miss Kim O’Brien.

According to Ms Wakefield, the program, which encourages professional development and leadership opportunities for young women, had seen a decline in entries over the past 20 years.

She said local show societies were already making small changes to attract more entries and hoped making a larger overall change would build on this.

"As guardians of the state competition, it is our responsibility to listen to those voices and drive positive change that will ensure the program’s future,” she said.

“Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year will be able to attract more young, talented and driven women to enter a program that can assist and elevate them through their chosen career path and help them become the future leaders our rural communities need.”

The Sydney Royal Young Woman of the Year Award will apply to the state competition held annually at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, though the RAS hopes to see this name change adopted at the local and Zone levels of the program by the Agricultural Societies Council of NSW (ASC), which oversees regional NSW show societies.

ASC President Tim Capp said the ASC was currently in discussions about the potential of changing the name but was unable to comment further about them or any recent decline in the number of regional NSW showgirl entrants at this stage.

Vice President of the ASC of NSW Next Generation Emily Ryan was also unable to comment about a name change in throughout regional NSW.

However, as a former showgirl herself and current committee member of the Coonamble Show Society, she had seen engagement with the competition go through ebbs and flows.

A multi-year showgirl entrant, Emily Ryan now works hard to ensure the competition retains its core values of promoting rural women.

"We always now have at least one or two competitors willing to put their hand up, but between 2015 and 2018 we didn't have a single competitor - I was the 2015 showgirl and held that title until 2018," Ms Ryan said.

"I don't really know the reason behind it - maybe it's because the concept behind it isn't clarified enough and some young women don't see themselves as part of the agricultural industry so think it's not relevant to them, when it's really for all women in agricultural communities.

"We've worked really hard in last couple of years to try and promote that - I think it's worked, to an extent, but I would still like to see even more women put their hand up in future competitions.

"At the end of the day, a name change doesn’t change what the competition is about - it’s about what rural women do and what they want to do in their community."