Entries have opened for the Guild’s 2018 Stuart Seaton Award – which celebrates high quality coverage of farming and rural affairs by regional newspapers.
The award – which is made jointly to a journalist and their publication – recognises the information and insight such coverage provides to farmers and the non-farming public alike.
Last year, the award was won by the Eastern Daily Press and its farming editor Chris Hill (pictured above with Guild chairman Catherine Linch).
Chris’s entry drew praise from the judges for his all-round clarity of style and clear presentation of farming information.
They said: “He is a good clear writer and makes his stories accessible to the lay reader as well as the professional farmer. His range of stories is good, mixing modern technology and research with more traditional activities in each issue.”
Chris received a certificate commemorating his award from Guild vice-chairman Catherine Linch at the Guild’s Bangers’n’Beer Cereals Event reception.
The Eastern Daily Press was awarded the right to publish the ‘regional newspaper award winner’ citation on its Farm & Country weekly supplement.
Now it’s time to find a new winner from amongst the newspapers and magazines that provide local readers with news, analysis and insight into farming and the rural scene in general.
This award is open to all such publications, editors and correspondents, not just Guild Members.
How to enter:
Complete an entry form which also gives details of entry requirements.
Entry forms are available here: 2018 Stuart Seaton Award Entry Form.pdf (pdf) and here: 2018 Stuart Seaton Award Entry Form.docx (Word document).
You must also submit PDFs of published pages from four consecutive editions – judges are looking for consistently high standards, not just a one-off.
Save the completed form as a PDF and email it with PDF pages to award coordinator jamie.day@agritradenews.co.uk.
Deadline for entries: Friday, 1 June 2018
The Guild’s Regional Newspaper & Journalist Award was established in memory of Stuart Seaton, the highly respected founding editor of Farmers Guardian (once a regional newspaper but now a national publication).
The award is supported by Stuart’s family, in particular Val Chapman (Stuart’s daughter) who is one of the judges and an associate editor of a group of national magazine titles.
Past winners include the Yorkshire Post (Robert Benson), Press & Journal (the late Joe Watson), Western Morning News (Peter Hall), The Farmer published by Shropshire Newspapers (Heather Jones) and The Courier (Ewan Pate).
