Susan Murray wins 2013 TBfree NZ Rongo Award

Posted: 22-Oct-2013

She won the supreme award, the TBfree New Zealand Rongo Award recognising excellence in agricultural journalism, for two programmes, one on a Maori Trust Farm that was a finalist in this year’s Ahuwhenua Maori Business Farm of the Year, and the other on the reaction to the Environment Court ruling to give the Manawatu Whanganui Regional Council the right to control the impact farming can have on the region’s waterways.

The runner-up was a series of articles prepared by the NZ Farmer team from Fairfax Media, on the effect of the drought earlier this year.

At Friday night’s awards dinner, a total of twelve awards were presented, eleven for journalism and one for photography. The key objectives of the awards are the encouragement and recognition of excellence in agricultural journalism.

There were three new awards this year:  one focused on the dairy industry, sponsored by Dairy NZ; one on the red meat industry, sponsored by the Alliance Group; and the third specifically for broadcast journalists, sponsored by Federated Farmers,

The winner of the DairyNZ Dairy Industry Journalism Award was John Watson, from Country TV, for a two-part investigation into the Horizon Regional Council's handling of wastewater treatment non-compliance

The winner of the Alliance Group Ltd Red Meat Industry Journalism Award was Terry Brosnahan for a series of articles in Country-Wide on the developing market for market for New Zealand’s red meat in China.

The Federated Farmers Broadcast Journalism Award was won by Julian O’Brien, for two episodes of Country Calendar. The other award it sponsors is the Rural Photography Award, and this was won by Peter Burke for a photo that appeared in Dairy News.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients sponsors the Farm Business Writing Award,  won this year by Jon Morgan, for two articles from The Dominion Post.

The AgResearch Science Writers Award, established to enhance standards of science writing, especially about pastoral agriculture, was won for a second year in a row by Tim Cronshaw of The Press.

The Horticulture New Zealand Journalism Award, set up to recognise excellence in agricultural journalism focussing on New Zealand’s horticulture industry, was won this year by Carol Stiles, from Radio New Zealand’s Country Life.

The Rural Women of New Zealand Award, which recognises the important contribution women make in the rural community, was won by Sarah Perriam and Tony Glynn from Rural TV

The AGMARDT Agribusiness Award, which recognises high quality information about and effective analysis of national, global and other agribusiness, was won by Aaron Smale, for two articles that appeared in Mana Magazine.

The Beef + Lamb New Zealand News Award, which recognises excellence in hard news journalism, focusing on any aspect of the beef and sheep industry, was won by Rebecca Harper for two articles for NZ Farmers Weekly.

The Guild’s own award is designed to encourage and recognise excellence among journalists with three or less years reporting on agricultural issues, The Agricultural Journalism Encouragement Award, went to Pamela Tipa, from Rural News.

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