Entries have opened for the Guild’s 2019 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 Cumberland Farmer and its farming and rural affairs editor Maureen Hodges (pictured above).
Maureen’s award-winning reporting was commended for its fairness, balance and depth of interest, reflecting all sides of the story.
Judges praised her clear and incisive writing, wide variety of topics, original stories and interview subjects away from the PR-driven agenda.
Maureen received a certificate commemorating the award, while the Cumberland Farmer earned the right to publish the ‘regional newspaper award winner’ citation on its masthead.
Attention now turns to finding a 2019 winner from among the newspapers and magazines that provide local readers with news, analysis and insight into farming and the rural scene in general.
This Stuart Seaton 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: 2019 Stuart Seaton Award Entry Form.pdf (pdf) and here: 2019 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 olivia.midgley@agribriefing.com.
Deadline for entries: Friday, 17 May 2019
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, 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 Eastern Daily Press (Chris Hill); 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).
