The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in conjunction with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is introducing a new annual award for excellence in global food security reporting. This is part of the cooperation agreement between the two organizations.

The IFAJ-FAO Award for Excellence in Global Food Security Reporting will be exclusively for IFAJ members. One entry from each national association of agricultural journalists (guild) will be allowed. Guilds will hold their own selection process. All members from guilds in good standing as members of IFAJ will be eligible to compete through their guilds.

It will be an open-language competition, meaning entries can be submitted in the language in which they were published or broadcast. FAO will handle all translation for judges, when required.

Each year a theme for the award will be chosen, under the broad heading of global food security. Anticipated topics for the theme include food production, food safety, food waste, agriculture and land use, under nutrition and malnutrition, and food affordability, among others. The annual theme will reflect the topic of the United Nations’ International Years, when they are related to agriculture and/or the World Food Day theme.

For the inaugural competition, entries are to relate to soil, based on 2015 being the United Nations’ International Year of Soils.

The contest winner will receive all-expenses paid trips to the annual IFAJ congress and to an FAO project related to the UN’s International Years.

Print, broadcast and electronic media submissions will be welcome. Submissions may be a single story or a series. Stories may be written by individuals or teams, but only one prize will be given per team. Judging criteria will be 50 per cent content and writing or broadcasting style, and 50 per cent presentation. Entries will be judged by three officials – one from FAO, and two from IFAJ. Two honourable mentions will be given. No prizes will be awarded for these designations.

For the inaugural competition, stories must have been published or broadcast between (and including) 1 January and 31 December 2015. Deadline for entries will be 1 March 2016. Submission details will follow. The first presentation of the award prize will be at the IFAJ Congress in Germany in July 2016.