Glacier FarmMedia – Agricultural reporters with the Glacier FarmMedia family of publications cleaned up at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation awards ceremony late last month in Winnipeg.
Five GFM writers received six CFWF awards, which honour excellence in the field of ag journalism. Of particular note was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Laura Rance, long-time former editor of the Manitoba Co-operator and now executive editor with GFM.
“The award recognized her extraordinary contributions to agricultural journalism and her lasting impact on the industry over many years of dedicated service, mentoring and leadership,” read a CFWF news release.
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John Greig won the gold C.B. Fairbairn Award for business/economics reporting for his Western Producer story, “Beef focus a game changer for dairy.”
That story was later reprinted in other GFM publications.
“The huge increase in value for beef cattle and the decline in the cow herd in North America has meant opportunity and fundamental change for how dairy farmers manage their male and extra female calves,” said Greig, GFM’s senior editor for technology, livestock and Ontario.
“Dairy farmers have always been in the beef game, but now they are in a big way. This story illustrated the extent of that change and what it means for dairy farm management.
“This is my first CFWF award for work of mine published in the Western Producer, which is exciting. Thanks to my Canadian Cattlemen colleague Melissa Jeffers-Bezan for her quote from Kee Jim, which I used in the story.”
Geralyn Wichers took home silver in the Dick Beamish Award for current affairs feature for her Manitoba Co-operator-published story, “In the shadow of the ‘80s.” This was one of a series of five stories — all written by Wichers — exploring rural depopulation through the lens of a 1970s Manitoba program that tried to help rural kids stay in their communities by giving them summer jobs.
“Former student workers say it was a great summer job, but it didn’t do much to stem the flow out of these little rural towns,” said Wichers, GFM’s digital editor, news and national affairs.
“In conversations with Manitoba Co-operator editor Alexis Stockford, we realized that we had to look at the decade that came after the program: the 1980s. That decade was infamous for how tough it was on farmers. Were farm kids discouraged from farming because of their parents’ hardships? Based on interviews and historical records, it seems likely that they were.
“I’m really proud of the whole rural depopulation series, so I’m honoured and very pleased that the judges also appreciated my work.”
Karen Briere, a longtime reporter with Western Producer’s Regina bureau, received two bronze awards: the Q.H. Martinson Award for current affairs reporting and the Jack Cram Award for people-based feature.
The current affairs award was for her story, “Farmers frustrated with equipment manufacturer.” Her people feature was “Farming north of 60 requires self-sufficiency.”
Briere expressed gratification for her work being recognized but noted that awards are “highly dependent” on judges and what they are looking for.
“Reporters by nature are competitive people — or they should be — in terms of getting the story, getting the best story and getting the best story first. We can’t possibly do that with every story we write, but the awards program provides the chance to put our best efforts up against those of others.”
Janelle Rudolph, whose work commonly appears in the Western Producer, received a New Writer of the Year Award on the strength of three stories: “Saskatchewan hit hardest by late August hail,” “Forum finds common ground on climate issues” and “Canadians miss out on higher U.S. honey prices.”
“The climate forum piece was the first long feature that I wrote with GFM, and it was a lot of research and interviews. It was an interesting piece with various perspectives to write about, and I had great help from my editors, Gord Gilmour and Alexis Stockford, on it. They provided important insights for my writing,” aaid Rudolph.
“I’m so happy and proud to have been chosen as new farm writer of the year. To me, it’s like a confirmation that my writing is growing and improving, and feeds people’s interests. I hope to continue to grow and look forward to all my future story opportunities.”
The annual ceremony recognizes excellence across 14 award categories, with gold, silver, and bronze honours determined by a panel of 17 judges representing diverse backgrounds in journalism, agriculture and communications from across Canada and the United States.
