The very best of British agricultural journalism was recognised at this year’s Power on the Farm award luncheon.

The award, now in its 42nd year, is run by Perkins in conjunction with the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists (BGAJ) and recognises the journalistic talents of the Guild’s members.

This year’s competition entries featured articles on a ‘power’ related theme, which were published between January 1 and December 31, 2013.

The judging panel of Perkins marketing director, Nigel Baseley; BGAJ council member Adrian Bell and last year’s winner and BGAJ member, Tom Allen-Stevens, were tasked with selecting the winner and runner-up from a strong entry field.

Olivia Midgley, a first time entrant in the Power on the Farm awards, took the top prize for her article on the Renewable Heat Incentive. Published in Farmers Guardian, Olivia’s article was a tightly-written, engaging and well researched piece.

The runner-up award went to Mervyn Bailey for his informative piece on multi-cut silage for organic milk, published in Profi.
 
This year’s award’s event included an exhilarating boat ride on The Thames, followed by a chef’s kitchen table experience at The Gilbert Scott in London, where the winners received their awards from Nigel Baseley, marketing director at Perkins.

“I’d like to thank those members of the BGAJ who entered this year’s competition. As always it was a close run thing, and my congratulations to Olivia and Mervyn on their winning articles,” said Nigel.

“It’s very important that we all recognise those whose work spreads the written word about the industry and its achievements. A timely reminder of this, if we needed one, is the IFAJ Congress in September. Attended by more than 200 journalists, who together will provide us with a global readership of over 40 million people, the Congress is a fantastic opportunity for us all to showcase British agriculture to the world.”

Picture: Winning scribes Olivia Midgley and Mervyn Bailey (right), receive their Perkins Power on the Farm awards from Nigel Baseley.