Metro Post
By: Judy Flores Partlow
The 11th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards roadshow visited Dumaguete City on Thursday to invite local journalists to participate in the search for the best agriculture stories and photographs in the country for 2017.
Didet DanguilanSantiago of PMFTC explained that the roadshow will visiting at least ten key cities and provinces over a fivemonth period to encourage entries from national, regional/local journalists.
According to Santiago, the awards aims to give honor and recognition to journalists in print, television and radio as well as in photography who have produced exemplary works related to the country’s agriculture sector.
Usually, stories on agriculture are coming from the provinces, she pointed out.
The categories for this year’s awards are Agriculture Story of the Year; Agriculture Photo of the Year; Tobacco Story of the Year; Tobacco Photo of the Year; Best Television Program or Segment; Best Radio Program or Segment; Best Agriculture News Story National; Best Agriculture News Story Regional; Best Agriculture Feature Story National; and Best Agriculture Story Regional.
Santiago also disclosed that this year they will be giving the Oriental Leaf Award, a special recognition for journalists who have won five consecutive Bright Leaf awards in any category.
She dismissed apprehensions that winners are usually coming from the national level, saying that their matrix of winners would show that many of the winners have actually come from the provinces.
Santiago, meanwhile, admits that the 11th Bright Leaf Awards has achieved one of its objectives of promoting awareness of the agriculture sector, but still, at the end of the day “we really want to highlight the importance of agriculture”.
Joel Elumba, Regional Technical Director of the Department of Agriculture in Region 7, who was the guest speaker during the roadshow’s 6th leg here, lauded the organizers, specifically PMFTC Inc., for coming up with the award to promote the agriculture sector.
Elumba noted that the agriculture sector is not as widely covered by journalists compared to other areas like politics, and yet there is so much to write or report about in this field.
Through the publication and/or broadcast of agriculture stories, these will help bring to the public eye the current situation of farmers and other producers, and what government is doing to aid this specific sector, said Elumba.
Majority of the journalists based in Dumaguete attended the roadshow presentation at a local hotel here.
Santiago said all entries to the 11th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards should have been published, aired or broadcasted between Sept. 1, 2016 to
August 31, 2017. (Judy Flores Partlow)