Congratulations to Guild member Emma Penny, editor of Farmers Guardian, for winning the coveted Editor of the Year Award for Business & Professional Magazines (weekly) at the British Society of Magazine Editors’ Awards.
Emma, who started her career in journalism on the Guild’s John Deere-sponsored new entrants’ training course in 1993, says she was stunned to receive the award at the BSME Awards in London.
“It’s the first time we’ve entered these awards, and when the presenter was talking about the winner’s publication I was thinking it sounded really impressive,” she says. “ I was shocked when they said it was Farmers Guardian!”
Judges described the publication as: “excellent for its complex understanding and passion for its reader, ability to speak to a broad audience whilst also recruiting new, younger readers, and for its news agenda that had a life-improving benefit to the reader”.
In the same category, the editor of the British Medical Journal was highly commended; others on the shortlist included editors of The Grocer, Property Week and Estates Gazette.
Emma adds: “It is a huge accolade – and it’s down to the talent, skill, determination and enthusiasm of the Farmers Guardian team. We’ve done some fantastic things and I’m lucky to work with such a brilliant and dedicated team of people.”
Farmers Guardian’s PPA Award-winning campaign, Backing Britain’s Professional Farmers, was shortlisted in the Campaign of the Year category but the ‘paper went one better in the Innovation & Brand Building Initiative of the Year category with a ‘highly commended’ for Tractor Factor – farming’s X-Factor equivalent.
Championing the musical talent and abilities of younger readers, Tractor Factor was seen or heard by more than eight million people, with coverage on BBC Radio One and BBC TV’s The One Show.
Judges described Tractor Factor as: “original, witty, funny and punching well above its weight”. The category was won by Cosmopolitan and the shortlist included BBC Good Food Magazine, Wallpaper, Readers Digest, Estates Gazette and More!
“Being a runner-up to Cosmo is pretty amazing – I wonder what they thought about a farming title being a close second,” says Emma.
