Ms Wilkinson received the honour at the recent NSW Planning Awards in Sydney.

"Every day is different in planning and that's why I love it," she said,

It was growing up in a regional area, and then living in London, that made Ms Wilkinson realise the difference between the haves and the have nots, and the infrastructure needed to support a community.

Studying urban and regional planning at UNE in Armidale was the perfect fit.

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Now Ms Wilkinson works for Barnson Dubbo.

There's a range of diversity within her role from helping people with their plans to submitting development applications to working with the engineering team.

The Young Planner of the Year hopes to inspire others to follow her footsteps into the fast-paced industry.

"It's important to encourage everyone, but especially women. I think that we're very organised and very driven. Women have that different perspective and an eye for detail," Ms Wilkinson said.

Ms Wilkinson said she was very grateful to Jim Sarantzouklis at Barnson, her mentors, her family and her partner Matt.

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