Guild members writing for three different national agricultural publications took the top prizes in the Guild’s Yara-sponsored Agricultural Journalism Awards.
They were presented at the Guild’s Harvest Lunch by Tove Andersen, managing director of Yara UK, the fertiliser manufacturer that continues to generously sponsor these high-profile awards and which are enthusiastically administered by marketing services manager Rosie Carne.
Livestock & Grassland
Joanne Pugh, Farmers Guardian livestock editor, took the Livestock & Grassland category award with her article: Grassland management advice helps increase forage intake and efficiency. This describes the benefits to a dairy farmer of getting on-farm advice of managing grass swards from several commercial sources.
The judges said: “It managed to combine technical writing with creative flair and engaged the reader from the beginning. Its style was clear and simple, enabling readers to maximise their knowledge gain from the article.”
Joanne Pugh.
Read Joanne’s winning article here.
Arable
Profi International editor Andrew Faulkner won the Arable category with a detailed analysis of the features and performance of a heavy-duty minimum tillage cultivator. The judges said they were looking for a writer who delivered the three Rs of good agricultural journalism – readability, research and relevance.
“Of the 13 entries, there was one that stood out on all three counts – from the opening sentence, Andrew Faulkner’s test on the Gregoire-Besson Discordon cultivator grabbed the reader’s attention, then eased the reader along with a pleasing turn of phrase and punchy style of writing.”
Andrew Faulkner.
Read Andrew’s winning article here.
Environmental & Rural Issues
Mike Stones won this category with his Global Assignment article Riding the rising tide of ethanol published in Farmers Weekly.
According to the judges, this article on the US biofuels industry was “well written, very informative and brought home the key messages of relevance to British farmers today. Indeed, some of the predictions have been borne out by the recent market highs for commodity crops.”
Henry Fell’s article: A Water Shortage? More than a hosepipe ban, which was published in The Farmers Club Journal, was highly recommended.
Mike Stones.
