The pair have had a long association as Mrs Newton classed the Hore family’s Stonehenge wool clip for many years.
She developed a close friendship with Mr Hore and his late wife Sue.
She also penned a book on the generational Maniototo farming family.
The presentation was made at the Otago Merino Association’s merino excellence awards.
Mrs Newton was "pretty humbled", particularly given the calibre of previous recipients.
A town girl from Dunedin, she embarked on a career in wool 48 years ago and it evolved into a lifelong passion.
She was a broker classer before a career as a self-employed professional shed classer, a role from which she retired last year.
She was appointed the first wool classer representative to the Wool Board Classer Registration Advisory Committee and was an inaugural member of the NZ Wool Classers Association.
She had judged wool at shearing and woolhandling competitions, compiled several anniversary books for the New Zealand Merino Shears and was an active committee member of the Otago Merino Association before stepping down last year.
While on the committee, she started a photography competition that led to images being shared around the world.
She enjoyed her involvement with the association and the opportunity to meet and network with other growers.
She loved hearing about where they came from.
She also felt fortunate to have been part of the "most exciting time in the history of wool" — the "micron madness" days when every 10th of a micron under 18 micron was worth $10.
"To be right in the middle of that ... I really treasure that time."
Mrs Newton’s interest in the wool industry and its people continued.
She was visiting some woolsheds in retirement that she had not previously been to.
At the awards evening, the first thing she looked at was the display of fleeces.
"I’ll never lose the passion I developed from the people."
