Aussies dominate international rural media awards

In a huge night for the nation’s rural media, Australians took out almost half the major prizes at an
international awards ceremony in Canada earlier today (Sunday, September 18, Australian time).

The award winners included ABC Landline reporter Pip Courtney, who was named the world’s best rural
broadcaster for a piece that included images filmed by her husband, John Bean. She dedicated the win to
Bean, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month while filming for the ABC.

Australians won three out of four categories in the broadcast section as well as the overall prize, and one of
three categories in the photography section. Australian journalists were also named runners-up in awards for
print journalism and a new international award for reporting on sustainability issues.

It was the most successful year ever for Australia in the awards program run by the International Federation
of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). The winners were announced on the final night of the annual IFAJ congress
held at Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“We like to think that our rural journalists and photographers are among the most talented in any media
sector in Australia, but these awards confirm that they stand tall against their peers from around the world,”
said Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists president Liz Harfull. “We should be very proud of the
international benchmark they set in reporting and capturing images relating to issues of vital importance not
just to regional Australia, but to the country as a whole.”

Prizes awarded to Australians included:

• The overall IFAJ Star Prize for Broadcast Journalism, and television category winner – Pip Courtney,
ABC Landline, for “Pipe Dream”, a piece about the coal seam gas industry, broadcast in May, 2010.

• IFAJ Star Prize for Broadcast Journalism radio category winner – Julia Holman, ABC Rural (Canberra,
formerly Mildura), for a piece about the Victorian locust plague broadcast on the ABC Country Hour in
October, 2010.

• IFAJ Star Prize for Broadcast Journalism, online radio category winner – Flint Duxfield, ABC Rural,
(formerly Esperance and Renmark, now Bunbury) for “Farmers don’t really use twitter...do they?” published in September,
2010.

• Star Prize for Agricultural Photography, people category winner – Mark Griffin, The Weekly Times, for
his image, “Swarm Cloud”, showing Mallee farmers Ed Wilson and David Weaver walking through locusts
during last year’s plague, published in April 2010.

• Star Prize for Agricultural Journalism (Print), runner-up – Ashley Walmsley, editor, Good Fruit and
Vegetable magazine, for “Asian Invasion”, a story about the threat posed to Australian horticulture by the
Asian honeybee, published in November 2010.

• IFAJ Award for Reporting on Sustainable World Agriculture, distinguished recognition – Deanna Lush,
editor, Stock Journal, for “Crop Quality Key to Feeding the World”.

Ends

For more detailed information about each award, judges comments and interviews contact ACAJ
president Liz Harfull on 0409 674 941, or email lizharfull@internode.on.net.