Australian rural journalists heading to IFAJ

Congress in Canada

Four Australian rural journalists have won professional development opportunities as part of an expanded awards program developed by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists and its state-based rural media clubs.

Television journalists Pip Courtney and Kathy McLeish, and print journalists Ashley Walmsley and Richard Fox, will all travel to Ontario, Canada, in September to attend this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists congress.

Pip Courtney won the Rabobank Star Prize for Rural Broadcasting for her ABC Landline story ‘Pipe Dreams’ about the coal seam gas industry and its impact on farmers, while Ashley Walmsley won the John Deere Star Prize for Rural Writing for ‘Asian Invasion’, a cover story about the Asian honeybee incursion in Australia published in Good Fruit and Vegetables which he edits for Rural Press Ltd.

These winning entries will now represent Australia at the international level in the prestigious Star Prize competitions run by the IFAJ.

As a state finalist in the rural writing award, Richard Fox is being funded by the Farm Writers’ Association of New South Wales to attend congress, while Kathy McLeish is being funded by the Rural Press Club of Queensland. Fox writes for Rural Press Ltd, while McLeish works for the ABC’s 730 Queensland.

ACAJ vice president Jane Milburn said the council very much appreciates the contribution of award sponsors John Deere and Rabobank in rewarding excellence with professional development opportunities for the winning journalists.

“Quality writing and broadcasting about farming issues is important for the rural sector because it helps spread the word about the contribution of agribusiness and food production to society,” Ms Milburn said.

For more information and to view the winning entries visit www.acaj.org.au

Contact Jane Milburn on mobile 0408 787 964 or jane@milbu rnmedia.com