Aussies scoop awards pool in South Africa
The South Australian Stock Journal’s Jacqui Bateman won both the IFAJ’s ‘people’ category and the overall Best Photograph for 2017 with her humorous take on PETA’s naked models campaign
Australian rural broadcasters, writers and photographers have scooped the pool at the 2017 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Awards.
Sunshine Coast-based ABC Rural Reporter Marty McCarthy won the IFAJ/Rabobank STAR prize for Excellence in TV Broadcasting.
His Wide Bay ABC Rural colleague Kallee Buchanan won the Digital Award and the South Australian Stock Journal’s Jacqui Bateman won the overall IFAJ Prize for the best rural photograph.
Former ABC Rural reporter Cassandra Steeth was runner-up in the Audio category.
The awards were presented at a gala dinner during the IFAJ’s 2017 Congress in Pretoria, South Africa.
ACAJ President Gen McAulay congratulated all the Australian winners and said their standout entries again underscored the strength of rural and regional journalism in Australia.
Sally Cripps accepting best photo award on behalf of Jacqui Bateman. Sally is pictured with Kees Verbeek, Rabobank, and IFAJ President Owen Roberts.
Marty McCarthy’s winning TV story was broadcast on ABC’s Landline last October on the family whose North Queensland banana plantation was quarantined over an outbreak of an exotic plant disease.
“They spoke with surprising candour and frankness ,which helped underscore the complex challenges facing authorities working to contain exotic plant disease outbreaks in one of Australia’s biggest and most valuable agricultural industries,” Ms McAulay said.
Bundaberg-based ABC Rural Reporter Kallee Buchanan accepts the IFAJ/Rabobank Digital award from Kees Verbeek, Rabobank, and IFAJ President Owen Roberts.
The IFAJ/Rabobank Digital gong was a triumph for Bundaberg-based ABC Rural Reporters Kallee Buchanan and Ross Kay who teamed up in December to give readers an insight into the secret, fleeting sex life of tropical dragon fruit in Queensland.
“This was an imaginative and effective use of digital technology,” Ms McAulay said.
The South Australian Stock Journal’s Jacqui Bateman won both the IFAJ’s ‘people’ category and the overall Best Photograph for 2017 with her humorous take on PETA’s naked models campaign (pictured above).
Cassandra Steeth was runner-up in the IFAJ/Rabobank award for Best Audio for her gritty documentary for Radio National’s Off Track program on the conflicting emotions facing farmers with a feral animal problem to win the Rabobank Award for Excellence in Rural Broadcasting.
Cassandra Steeth was runner-up in the IFAJ/Rabobank award for Best Audio. Cassandra is pictured with Kees Verbeek, Rabobank, and IFAJ President Owen Roberts.
Rabobank’s National Manager for Country Banking, Todd Charteris said the Awards once again demonstrated the broad diversity and range of Australian rural journalism.
“This in turn reflects the great breadth of issues that impact on , and interest rural Australia, and they are a testament to the important role rural journalism serves communicating not only with people in the country but connecting the bush to those in the city,” Mr Charteris said.
For more information, contact ACAJ President Gen McAulay, 0428279576