The International Federation of Agriculture Journalists has been busy with two new projects.

IFAJ has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to offer a new competition.  Submissions are now being accepted for the IFAJ-FAO Award for Excellence in Global Food Security Reporting.  All member countries are invited to submit one entry story that reflects the theme “soil”– from the 2015 United Nations International Year of Soil.  All stories must have been published in print or online between the dates of January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

Winners will be awarded an all-expenses paid trips to the annual IFAJ congress, being held next year in Germany.  The winner will also travel to an FAO project related to the UN’s International Years.

You can find full contest rules and submission information here.  The deadline for entry is March 1, 2016. 

Their second project recently put into motion is a new page on the IFAJ website dedicated to improving contact between agricultural journalists.  The site, titled “In the Field” is for members to publish their relevant stories and peruse work written by their colleagues.  Visit the page and see what ag journalists have been up to.