NAGA CITY, May 30 (PIA) – Stories that tell tales of the relevance of agriculture to the lives of the people and captivating photos that encapsulate the significance of the land to the populace are the focus of the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards (BLAJA) 2014 as it invites anew more writers and photographers to join the awards program.
This was bared Tuesday by Monette Quioque, Executive Director of The Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards during the press briefing held at Villa Caceres here Wednesday with invited members of Camarines Sur media coming from print, broadcast and television.
At stake this year are Agriculture Story of the Year, Agriculture Photo of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Best Television Program or segment, Best National News Story, Best Regional News Story, Best National Feature Story, Best Regional Feature Story and Best Radio Program or segment.
“We have ten prizes at stake this year. You can send your entries either via courier of by simply logging on to our website- www.thebrightleafawards.com where there are downloadable forms or you can email your entries to our secretariat at [email protected]. You can submit as many entries as you can but no story can be submitted in more than one category,” Quioque stated before the members of the press.
The organizers will also give the Oriental Leaf Award to those who have won a Bright Leaf Award in any category for five consecutive years. One of the privileges of the awardee is his or her inclusion in the list of other awardees as Bright Leaf Hall of Famers.
To qualify, submitted stories and photos should be aired and published respectively between September 1, 2013 to August 31,2014.
The competition is open to all professional and certified broadcast journalists who are 18 years old and above. Free lancers are also qualified to join as long as their works are published or aired in a media entity.
Now on their 8th year, the Bright Leaf Awards wishes to invite more practitioners to be a part of their aggressive campaign to promote agriculture stories that will sow the seeds of inspiration among our farmers and other stakeholders.
In an interview, Didet Danguilan, Project Head of Bright Leaf Agricuture Jounalism Awards stated that they are conducting the Bright Leaf roadshow basically to raise the awareness of the people about the inspiring stories pertaining to agriculture.
“We want to reach out to more new places that we haven’t visited yet so more people will be aware about the bright leaf awards and then they would be interested to send entries,” Danguilan said.
She reiterated that this is also the best way to acknowledge the efforts of journalists around the globe who are their main partner in bringing to the forefront the many issues concerning agriculture like safety issues, crop sustainability and the like.
Winners of the Agriculture Story of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Agriculture Photo of the Year and Tobacco Photo of the Year will bring home a total cash of P50,000.00, an iPad, Bright Leaf Awards trophy and an Asian trip. Also at stake for the Best Television Program or Segment and Best Radio Program or Segment is P50,000.00 plus a certificate of recognition.
For the Print category, winners the Best National News Story, Best Regional News Story, Best National Feature Story and Best Regional Feature Story will receive P20,000.00 and a Certificate of Recognition.
Oriental Awardee will receive an iPad plus trophy.
Submission of entries started on May 5 and will be until September 10, 2014. (MAL/LSM-PIA5/CamSur)