An international award for excellence in global food security reporting has been introduced for agricultural journalists.
The annual award is a result of an agreement between the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The IFAJ-FAO Award for Excellence in Global Food Security Reporting will be exclusively for IFAJ members.
One entry from each national association of agricultural journalists (guild) will be allowed. Guilds will hold their own selection process.
All members from guilds in good standing as members of IFAJ will be eligible to compete through their guilds.
It will be an open-language competition, meaning entries can be submitted in the language in which they were published or broadcast.
The FAO will handle all translation for judges, when required.
Each year a theme for the award will be chosen, under the broad heading of global food security.
For the inaugural competition, entries must relate to soil – with 2015 being the United Nations’ International Year of Soils.
Adrian Bell, IFAJ executive member for the British Guild, said: “This is a superb new award, illustrative of the benefits of the new IFAJ-FAO partnership.
“It offers a very tangible prize and potentially a subject area – especially in the inaugural year – that should attract a wide selection of entries from all IFAJ member countries.”
Topics for future years could include food production, food safety, food waste, agriculture and land use, under nutrition and malnutrition, and food affordability.
The annual theme will reflect the topic of the United Nations International Years, when they are related to agriculture and/or the World Food Day theme.
The contest winner will receive all-expenses paid trips to the annual IFAJ congress, and to an FAO project related to the UN’s International Years.
“IFAJ appreciates this very positive development in our relationship with FAO,” said IFAJ Vice-President Owen Roberts (Canada).
“Our members greatly value professional development opportunities such as this, and we are grateful for FAO’s foresight and support for a competition related to a vitally important topic for agriculture and agricultural journalists.”
Print, broadcast and electronic media submissions will be welcome. Submissions may be a single story or a series. Stories may be written by individuals or teams, but only one prize will be given per team.
Judging criteria will be 50 per cent content and writing or broadcasting style, and 50 per cent presentation.
Entries will be judged by three officials — one from the FAO, and two from the IFAJ. Two honourable mentions will be given. No prizes will be awarded for these designations.
For the inaugural competition, stories must have been published or broadcast between (and including) 1 January and 31 December 2015.
Deadline for entries will be 1 March 2016. The first award will be presented at the IFAJ Congress in Germany in July 2016.
The award was announced at the Italian Guild UNAGA (Unione nazionale associazioni Giornalisti Agricoltura) annual meeting at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.
Submission details will follow in due course.
