Georgina Gustin awarded NAAJ's 2022 Writer of the Year

Feedstuffs wins Audrey Mackiewicz Award for improved ag coverage. 

Washington, April 25, 2022  — Georgina Gustin is the North American Agricultural Journalists' (NAAJ) 2022 Cunningham Award, Writer of the Year. Feedstuffs won NAAJ's Audrey Mackiewicz Award given to independent print publications or news wire services that have expanded agriculture coverage. Both awards were presented April 25 by outgoing NAAJ president Gene Lucht, during NAAJ's annual Sonja Hillgren Memorial Scholarship Benefit and Awards Reception held at Up Top Acres in Washington, D.C.

The scholarship is awarded annually to University of Missouri journalism students with an interest in agricultural coverage. Gustin, a Washington, D.C.-based reporter with Inside Climate News, won for her story 'The Amazon is the Planet’s Counterweight to Global Warming.' The Glenn Cunningham Agricultural Journalist of the Year Award honors the best overall writer of the year and remembers Glenn Cunningham, farm editor of The Des Moines Register. Cunningham was named the first ag journalist of the year winner and served as NAAJ executive secretary-treasurer for many years.

"This is a great example of journalism at its best. A complex topic told well. It covers a lot of points of view and does it well by giving the reader a look at the human angle. It is a long piece but devotes enough context to a serious issue. In a conventional publication, the piece probably would have been divided into a five- or six-story series," says Cunningham Award judge Myron Williams, who has a 39-year career in journalism of which 34 years were devoted to ag journalism.

All first place winners from the NAAJ's writing contest categories are judged to determine the writer of the year. Maureen Fitzhenry, who advanced Gustin by placing her in first place in the features category, had high praise for Gustin's story.

"Spectacular piece exploring the complex interplay of small- and large-scale agriculture, global agribusiness, politics and Indigenous rights affecting the future of the Amazonian rain forest," wrote Fitzhenry, a journalist who has worked for the Winnipeg Free Press and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "Deeply and empathetically researched, this beautifully written story has the visceral impact of a documentary film about one of the most important issues affecting the future life on earth."

A list of NAAJ's 2022 writing award winners is available at www.naaj.net/2022-writing-award-winners.

MACKIEWICZ AWARD GIVEN

The award presented to the nearly 100-year old publication Feedstuffs honors Audrey Mackiewicz, a former Ohio newswoman who was the association’s first female president and long-time executive secretary-treasurer. Lucht, who selected the Mackiewicz Award winner, said Feedstuffs found a way to survive and thrive in a changing media world through the use of video and online content in the form of Feedstuffs 365.

Sarah Muirhead, Feedstuffs editor, said the company appreciates the award recognizing Feedstuffs 365.  "We are especially honored given that this prestigious award aligns with our strong belief in innovation and the finding of new ways to stay relevant and best aligned with the ever-changing desires and needs of our audience,” she said.NAAJ held its 69th annual meeting earlier in the day on April 25.

NAAJ vice-president, Allan Dawson, was named president following Lucht's one-year term. Dawson reports on agriculture from Miami, Man., Canada and is a long-time NAAJ member. Des Keller was acclaimed NAAJ's vice-president. He's based in Charlotte, NC.NAAJ's members are agricultural editors and reporters from the United States and Canada.Formerly the Newspaper Farm Editors of America and then the National Association of Agricultural Journalists, the organization was formed in 1952 to promote the highest ideals of journalism and agricultural coverage www.naaj.net/about-us.