Reporter Sean Pratt was appreciative of German efficiency when the trains ran on time to Neuss last September.
After sending a long e-mail query to Detlef Volz, general manager of an oilseed crushing plant, in which Pratt detailed his plans for a special report on the German biofuel industry, outlined his itinerary and asked for an interview in which to explore the gridlock of European production, he received a one word answer: Yes.
So Pratt arrived, almost late and slightly worried about the verbosity, or lack thereof, of this key source to his reporting plan. But Volz was co-operative, informative and courteous. Pratt wrote a story that gave new perspectives on the global biofuel scene.
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Last weekend, his story won gold in Weekly Press Reporting from the Canadian Farm Writers Federation.
Ottawa national correspondent Barry Wilson has followed World Trade Organization negotiations for years. In the course of this reporting, he has travelled to Hong Kong, Geneva, Doha and other locales, and kept readers informed of developments in international agricultural trade.
That’s why he saw the contradictions in WTO attitudes on the part of Canadian politicians and that’s why he emphasized the comments by chief agricultural trade negotiator Steve Verheul about the fabled “boy scout” Canadian position.
Wilson’s column won gold in Press Column from the CFWF.
By now you’re probably seeing a pattern, but let me press on, while also explaining the photo at the top of this column.
Camrose reporter Mary MacArthur took that photo of Mack Rennie, general manager of the Western Hog Exchange, after he spoke to Alberta pork producers in August 2007. He was explaining the market meltdown in the hog sector.
It’s a telling photo of anxiety and exhaustion on the part of a beleaguered member of the hog industry. Rennie later told MacArthur that after that photo ran in the Producer, he got many calls from hog producers in Eastern Canada, asking about the hog troubles. He explained it to them.
For that photo, MacArthur won gold in the Feature Photograph category.
Bragging about the staff is a pleasant task for an editor. But staffers are never eager to enter writing or photo contests. They’re too busy working on the next week’s news for our readers.
Somehow that makes our awards even better, because it’s clear our reporters have their priorities straight.
