From more than 100 nominations, The 'Boyne's unmistakeable community spirit, proud dairy farming history and successful community events, such as Comboyne Show, Comboyne Village Fair and Comboyne Camp Draft, made it a stand out.

As locals say "living here is as close as you can get to heaven".

The village's 600-odd residents will have their fingers and toes crossed until mid-September when the overall winner is announced.

If successful, the $7,500 prize money will give a long-range vision of creating a dairy museum the kick start it desperately needs.

In the meantime, the $2,500 collected for being one of eight finalists will see a life-sized, fibreglass grazing cow take up residence in High Street.

The idea is part of Comboyne Community Centre's 'From our grass to your glass' project and once the sculpture arrives, there are plans to run a competition to see whose design will 'decorate' the new cow in town.

Comboyne Community Association president Margot Anderson said last week's announcement is a massive boost for the community.

"I'm so proud and delighted that we have this opportunity to showcase our dairy industry, which is the backbone of this area, and all of the wonderful things that make Comboyne a special place to live," she said.

"We may be small, but we are community-minded and still enjoy a village atmosphere, which is rare in today's society."

Project manager Karen Hamilton said the hastily prepared nomination followed some coaxing from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council's Place Making facilitator Paul Koch.

"Paul made the suggestion, and we thought it might be a good idea to raise funds to promote the area, so we all got together and started throwing ideas around.

"I really think we're in with a big chance.

"This could be huge for Comboyne.

"It's not so much about the money, but the exposure and national recognition.

"If people haven't heard of Comboyne yet, we're going to put it on the map," she said.

An optimistic Mrs Hamilton said the prize money would be used to establish a dairy musem, complete with photographs, machinery and memorabilia, which pays tribute to the area's proud heritage.

"There are so many brilliant stories to bring together and we'd love to get the community really involved," she said.

"There are a lot of families around here that could help bring that history back to life.

"The seeds have already been planted, so this competition's prize money would give it a real boost."

Such an attraction would help increase tourist numbers, inject money into the local economy and ensure residents can "share our piece of heaven".

On Monday, Dairy Australia will be filming a documentary of Comboyne, so let's make sure we put our best foot forward.