Bright Leaf Awards Roadshow

As part of its search for the best agriculture stories, photos, TV and radio segments or programs, the organizers of the 8th Bright Leaf Awards are traveling the country to meet with journalists face to face and invite them personally to join the competition.

The Bright Leaf Awards is a nationwide search for the year’s best stories that were aired or published between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014.   This competition honors the exceptional pieces of journalists that were published and broadcasted that brought to the fore developments, innovations and issues in the agriculture industry that either contributed to the economic advancement of a community or inventions that have the potential to boost agriculture growth.

The roadshow has made stops in Lucena City, Cebu, Davao, Dagupan, Naga, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro.  These provincial sorties saw an increasing number of journalists attending year by year, a testimony to the high awareness of the project as well as to the integrity and credibility of the competition.  Roadshows were held in Lucena, Cebu and Naga for the first time this year to reach out to more journalists from Luzon to Mindanao.

The different categories include Agriculture Story of the Year; Tobacco Story of the Year, Best Television Program or Segment; Best Radio Program or Segment; Best Regional News Story; Best National News Story; Best Regional Feature Story; Best National Feature Story; and The Oriental Leaf Award.

The roadshow will visit Vigan, Laoag, Tuguegarao and Manila.

Bright Leaf Awards Hits The Road

THE 8th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards (BLAJA) is inviting journalists from the tri-media—print, radio and television—for its search for the best agriculture stories, photos, TV and radio segments.

The Bright Leaf Awards is a nationwide search for the year’s best stories that were aired or published between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014.

This competition honors the exceptional pieces of journalists that were published and broadcasted that brought to the fore developments, innovations and issues in the agriculture industry that either contributed to the economic advancement of a community or inventions that have the potential to boost agricultural growth.

BLAJA’s roadshow has already made stops in Lucena City, Cebu, Davao, Dagupan, Naga, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro.

These provincial sorties saw an increasing number of journalists attending year by year, a testimony to the high awareness of the project as well as to the integrity and credibility of the competition.

The roadshows were held in Lucena, Cebu and Naga for the first time this year to reach out to more journalists from Luzon to Mindanao.

In this year’s visit to the various regions, the audience listened with great interest as they were told of the different categories which 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 Feature News Story; Best National Feature Story; and The Oriental Leaf Award.

The journalists fielded various queries that would help them in the crafting of their possible entries, they were also excited to hear about the prizes.

Still to come are visits to Vigan, Laoag and Tuguegarao. And, of course, a not-to-be-missed session in Manila.

Participation in The Bright Leaf Awards is free of charge. Contestants can submit as many stories in any of the categories but no story can be entered into more than one category.

Entries may be in English or any of the Philippine regional dialects. For entries that are not in English, participants are required to provide an English translation.

Bright Leaf Awards Heightens Awareness Of Agriculture Issues

MANILA, Philippines - In an agricultural country like the Philippines, the issues hounding the industry are as countless as they are varied.

There’s smuggling, lack of post-harvest facilities, corruption, budget woes and inefficiencies.

The importance of agriculture issues is growing because of climate change and the recent disasters that hit the country.

However, agriculture stories do not often make headlines in newspapers despite their significance to farmers’ lives, consumers and to the economy in general.

The Bright Leaf  Agriculture Journalism Awards, a yearly journalism competition organized by PMFTC Inc., seeks to change all that and it has been doing so for seven years already since 2007. It is now on its eight year.

“The goal is to raise public awareness on what’s happening in the agriculture industry through the stories that the journalists portray through photos and videos, the ones that they capture and in their articles,” Didet Danguilan, Bright Leaf project head told The STAR in a recent interview.

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Danguilan stressed that the focus is on the stories.

“The focus is on the article that the journalist writes or the photos and videos captured through the lens. The journalist behind the excellent piece is the added value,” she noted.

In raising awareness on agriculture issues, the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards competition does not discriminate.

“Agriculture issues encompass all the sectors of agriculture. There are so many issues we discover through the entries. There are so many things happening in the provinces. For example, there’s cacao schooling, sustainable farming and many other developmental stories,” she said.

Indeed, awareness has been growing.

“We started with only 69 entries in 2007. Now it’s almost 1,500. Judges have difficulty judging,” Danguilan noted.

PMFTC, a cigarette manufacturer, chose to name the competition Bright Leaf because it is the name given to Virginia tobacco, which turns into a vivid yellow when it is cured with intense heat.

“The discovery of the Bright Leaf tobacco brought to life the struggling economy of North Carolina in the United States. It is characterized by a distinct flavor and aroma that makes it the variant of choice for manufacturing tobacco products,” PMFTC said in its profile on the competition.

The Bright Leaf Awards are given to the most outstanding and relevant agriculture stories in print, radio, and television.

Furthermore, PMFTC said, the competition also honors the most compelling photos that capture the essence of tobacco farming and the agriculture industry.  It acknowledges the efforts of the Filipino journalist to bring to the forefront the current issues, new best practices, safety issues, crop sustainability and many other subjects relevant to one of our country’s most important industries.

“Their stories need to be seen, heard and appreciated. The Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards is the best way to achieve that,” Danguilan said.

Moving forward, Danguilan hopes that the competition can serve as a platform to discuss relevant issues in agriculture.

“We hope that policy makers will take cognizance of the different issues in agriculture that are being highlighted in the entries,” she said.

Journalists can compete for the following categories: Agriculture Story of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Agriculture Photo of the Year, Tobacco Photo of the Year, Best Agriculture TV Program/Segment, Best Agriculture Radio Program/Segment, Best Agriculture News Story National, Best Agriculture News Story Regional, Best Agriculture Feature Story National, Best Agriculture Feature Story Regional and The Oriental Leaf Award.

For this year’s 8th Bright Leaf competition, entries published, aired and broadcasted locally from Sept. 1, 2013 until Aug. 31, 2014 will be accepted. The Bright Leaf secretariat now accepts entries and deadline is on Sept. 10, 2014.

Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards Calling For Entries

The secretariat of the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards is now accepting entries for the 2014 season. The awards are given to outstanding agriculture stories in print, radio and television. There is also a category for photos that capture the essence of tobacco farming and the agriculture industry. The entries must have been published or aired locally between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014. Last day of submission is 5 p.m., September 10, 2014.

The categories are 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 Feature Story; Best National Feature Story; and Oriental Leaf Award.

The Oriental Leaf Award is a special award given to those who have won a Bright Leaf Award in any category for five consecutive years. The Oriental Leaf Awardees comprise the Bright Leaf Hall of Fame.

Entry forms can be secured by visiting http://www.thebrightleafawards.com or contact the official Bright Leaf Secretariat c/o Juicebox Shop Inc. at (02) 697-8110.