CLARK FREEPORT ZONE– Kapampangan media are encouraged to submit their entries to the 13th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

The competition is a brainchild of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) Inc. that aims to provide recognition to excellence not just in reporting agriculture news, but in terms of overall journalism skills from writing to news gathering.

“Agriculture is a truly valuable industry in our country; therefore, those who write about it, photographs it, air stories about it should be recognized. Your work sheds valuable attention to the agriculture sector of the country. This is the reason why your work should be honored and recognized,” PMFTC Corporate Communications Head Dave Gomez said.

He added that Bright Leaf is really dedicated to provide recognition to outstanding stories that encourage agricultural development; talks about top tier issues in agriculture; and brings to life not only in local but at the national level important agricultural issues, relevant stories and developmental stories regarding the sector.

“When we say developmental stories, we don’t necessarily mean critical stories are excluded. In fact, as we know, those are the stories that drive policy makers and local government officials to changing policies and providing reforms,” Gomez said.

The competition has 12 categories including Agriculture Story of the Year, Agriculture Photo of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Tobacco Photo of the Year, Best Agriculture TV Program or Segment, Best Agriculture Radio Program or Segment, Best Agricultural News Story (national and regional), Best Agriculture Feature Story (national and regional), Best Online Story, and Best Story in Novel Tobacco Products.

All professional Filipino journalists residing in the Philippines who are 18 years old and above upon submission of their entries are eligible to join.

Participating journalists are free to submit multiple entries across any of the categories; however, the same story or entry cannot be submitted to different categories.

Only entries that were published, aired or broadcasted in the country from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019 will be accepted by the contest organizers.

Participating journalists may submit their entries via email, courier, or through the Bright Leaf website.

Depending on the category, the competition’s winning entries will be awarded a Bright Leaf trophy, gadgets, all-expense paid trip to Southeast Asia, and cash prize worth PhP20,000 to PhP50,000.