The IFAJ Star Prize for print journalism was won by Mike Abram, a Member of the British Guild, for an article published in Crops magazine on ways to adopt ‘controlled traffic farming’ – keeping vehicle wheelings to permanent tramlines to minimise compaction of soils.
The article was selected from winning entries in the Guild’s own awards programme to compete against articles from similar Guilds and press clubs affiliated to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.
Mike’s award win was announced at the IFAJ Congress 2013 in Argentina and he received his prize from IFAJ president and Swiss agricultural journalist Markus Rediger (right in picture) at the Guild’s annual Harvest Lunch in London.
Award judges were Rochus Kingsman, former editor of Boerderij and head of Dutch publisher CRV; Charl van Rooyen, former editor of Landbou; and Niels Damsgaard Hansen, a Danish freelance editor.
The judges’ citation said: “The author shows us all how to transform a very technical subject into an easy to read and practical article; and most of all, he gives us an insight about the financial aspects of this subject – something we should do more of as journalists.”
