AgriLand journalist Rachel Martin has been honoured at an international award ceremony which recognises world-class agricultural reporting.
Rachel was named the runner-up of the 2020 IFAJ AgTech Reporting Award during the world congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) on Friday (June 26).
It’s been a big week for the Co. Down born agricultural journalist, coming just a few days after she was elected chairman of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists in Northern Ireland.
Rachel’s story ‘Dutch firm to test ‘cow toilets’ to cut farm ammonia emissions’ examined how a seemingly crazy invention could have real applications in reducing ammonia locally.
One judge commented on Rachel’s “great puns and the fun she injected into the writing”, and was also sure to commend “a flowing style that made me want to continue to read”.
Judges for the contest included Dr. Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-Tech East in the UK; Luke Halsey, head and programme manager at Farm491 at Britain’s Royal Agricultural University; and Adrian Krebs, editor-in-chief of Swiss farm magazine BauernZeitung.
US journalist Gil Gullickson was named the category winner for his piece ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’, a feature article on outcome-based pricing for commodities that he wrote for Successful Farming, a leading US farm magazine.
There was other success for the ‘Emerald Isle’, as Dublin-based radio presenter Damien O’Reilly was awarded the 2020 IFAJ Star Prize for Broadcast: Audio for his ‘Climate Change and Irish Farming’ broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.
O’Reilly’s entry also recognised producer Eileen Heron for her work on the winning broadcast.
