Media Release                                                                                    November 26 , 2010

Major new prizes worth $10,000 announced for prestigious Australian rural media awards program

Interest in quality rural journalism will step up a notch next year with two international trips on offer for the first time as part of the presitigious Australian Star Prize program, organised by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists (ACAJ).

Winners of the John Deere Australian Star Prize for Rural Writing and the Rabobank Australian Star Prize for Rural Broadcasting will attend an international gathering of their peers in Canada in September, 2011.

The prizes have been made possible with a significant increase in sponsorship from major rural lender Rabobank and agribusiness John Deere, taking the total value of the two journalism awards to $10,000.

“We are delighted to provide this exciting opportunity for professional development as part of our ongoing comitment to encouraging excellence in rural journalism,” said ACAJ president Liz Harfull in releasing details of the 2011 awards program.

The suite of awards also incorporates the Australian Star Prize for Rural Photography, with categories for the best people, production and landscape/nature photos.

“Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the journalism award winners will attend the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) annual congress in Ontario. This experience will not only give them the opportunity to explore and report on agriculture in another country, but they will be able to work alongside rural journalists and communicators from around the world and build valuable professional networks,”

The winner of the writing prize, all three category winners of the photo award, and categories for radio, television and on-line journalism in the broadcast award will also represent Australia at an international level in the IFAJ Star Prize awards, due to be announced during the congress.

ABC Landline journalist Kerry Staight won last year’s inaugural IFAJ broadcasting award. Australians have also done well in previous writing and photography awards, taking out individual categories, and the overall photography prize in 2008.

The Australian awards are contested by finalists selected by five state-based rural media clubs affiliated with the ACAJ.

For more information visit www.acaj.org.au