INTERESTED participants to the fifth Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards have until August 31 to submit their entries.
Soon after, a pre-judging process will commence where a set of judges will verify the scientific and technical accuracy of the reports as well as the quality of writing or production. The panel is composed of distinguished agricultural scientists and educators and veteran media practitioners.
Last year the Agriculture Story of the Year award was given to Mach Alberto “Bong” Fabe, BusinessMirror (BM) correspondent based in Cagayan de Oro; and the Best National News Story was awarded to Jonathan Mayuga, a Metro Manila-based correspondent of BM.
To maintain the integrity of the competition, the secretariat said the names of the judges will not be divulged. The names of the participants and their respective publications or broadcast networks are likewise replaced by numerical codes to ensure impartiality.
Following this process, a second judging phase will be conducted, where a different set of judges will be given copies of all the selected entries. After careful evaluation, the judges will grade the articles according to their relevance, research, and prose, among others. The results will then be given to the secretariat to tally the scores.
Once the final results are in, the secretariat will call on the judges for a meeting to present the overall results and for calibration. The judges will then finalize the list of winners.
The judges and the participants will know the identities of the winners only during the awarding ceremony.
Bright Leaf is open to all agriculture journalists who, through their print stories, radio segments, television features, and photographs, have promoted and/or created awareness on the most current agricultural issues and best farming practices on environmental care, safety, and crop sustainability.
The categories of Bright Leaf Awards include Agriculture Story of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Best Television Program or Segment, Best Radio Program or Segment, Agriculture Photo of the Year, Tobacco Photo of the Year, Best Regional News Story, Best National News Story, Best Regional Features Story, Best National Features Story, and a special Oriental Leaf Awards, a new category that honors Bright Leaf’s constant contributors and winners through the years.
Participants may send their entries to the official Bright Leaf secretariat at Cozoz Inc. 1102 P. Ocampo corner Conchu Streets, Malate, Manila.
