Farm Bureau newspaper, TV program earn national recognition

» August 5, 2005 «

The weekly newspaper and television program produced by the California Farm Bureau Federation have been judged best in the nation, in an American Farm Bureau competition.

The California Farm Bureau newspaper Ag Alert® earned the award as best state Farm Bureau publication in its class. Ag Alert competed against other tabloid-sized publications produced by large state Farm Bureaus-a category considered the most competitive of the annual awards.

The newspaper also won a first-place award for the best feature story: a piece written by Assistant Editor Christine Souza that described a farm family whose home was remodeled for the television series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." A news story about flooding along the Mojave River, written by Assistant Editor Kate Campbell, received an honorable mention in the competition.

The weekly television program "California Country" earned the award as the nation's best Farm Bureau-produced TV program. The program also received two first-place awards for individual stories: a news story about a levee break that flooded farmland in the San Joaquin Delta, and a feature story about a Greenpeace co-founder who now encourages "sensible environmentalism." Both stories were produced by "California Country" host Jim Morris, photographer Kevin Burke and editors Scott Monaco and Todd Popple.

Two California Farm Bureau publications earned honorable mentions in the AFBF awards. The bimonthly member magazine California Country® received a mention in the magazine category, and the CFBF annual report-titled Strength in Agriculture: Involved and Engaged--earned a mention in the competition for brochures.

The awards were presented during the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual Information Conference in Austin, Texas.

The California Farm Bureau Federation, the state's largest farm organization, works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of its nearly 87,000 members.

Contact: Dave Kranz
Phone: 916/561-5550
news@cfbf.com

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item.