Friday, December 06, 2024

2024 Rural Media & Communicators SA/NT Award Winners Announced

The Northern Territory and South Australia have fittingly shared the top honours in this year’s Rural Media & Communicators (RMC) South Australia and Northern Territory major awards.

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The Northern Territory and South Australia have fittingly shared the top honours in this year’s Rural Media & Communicators (RMC) South Australia and Northern Territory major awards.

Kristy O’Brien from ABC NT and Matt Turner of Matt Turner Photographer (SA) have been crowned RMC SA/NT’s 2024 Rural Journalist of the Year and Rural Photographer of the Year respectively.

Sponsored by Rural Business Support and presented by Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development and Minister for Forest Industries, Clare Scriven MLC, the Rural Journalist of the Year Award recognised Kristy’s engaging story-telling and versatility in terms of subject matter and use of multiple mediums.

RMC SA/NT President Leigh Radford OAM said Kristy was also persistent: “One of her stories took eight years to land, but it was worth the wait.”

Kristy was also recognised as Best Rural Broadcast Journalist – Audio/Radio (sponsored by SA Horticultural Services) and Best Rural Broadcast Journalist – Video/Television (sponsored by AgCommunicators).

Prior to being named Rural Photographer of the Year (sponsored by Rural Business Support), Matt Turner also took out awards for the Best Rural Photographer – People (sponsored by Stock Journal) and Best Rural Photographer – Production (sponsored by Calperum Station).

Matt is a multiple Rural Photographer of the Year award recipient, and this year’s collection of entries further cemented his professional reputation.

RMC SA/NT Vice President Prue Adams said Matt’s portfolio showcased creativity and technical supremacy: “Brilliant lighting, composition and visually interesting elements were to the fore in Matt’s entries this year.”

Stock Journal’s Quinton McCallum was awarded Best Rural Journalist – Print (sponsored by Fuller), while Joanna Tucker of Yorke Peninsula Country Times received the Best Rural Journalist – Regional Print award sponsored by AgCommunicators, and Eliza Berlage of ABC Riverland won the AgCommunicators-sponsored Best Rural Broadcast Journalist – Digital/Online award.

Other photography awards were won by Tony Hill of ABC TV (Best Rural Photographer Award – Nature/Landscape/Rural Scenes, sponsored by PIRSA) and Bill Ormonde of the ABC (Best Rural/Regional Photo Journalist, sponsored by Doyle Media Services).

The award for Best Royal Adelaide Show Story – sponsored by the Show Society Foundation – was won by Elizabeth Anderson of Stock Journal for her entry on the 70th anniversary of the Poll Dorset Association, which according to the judges was “tremendously well researched”, weaving a rich tapestry of history, tradition and community pride.

Best Royal Adelaide Show Photo, also sponsored by the Show Society Foundation, was awarded to Scott Murphy of The Courier for an image that “beautifully captured” the story of a livestock breeder.

Awards were also presented for Rural Social Media Influencer of the Year and Rural Communicator of the Year, sponsored by AgCommunicators and PodTalk respectively.

John Gladigau from ifarmwell was named Rural Social Media Influencer of the Year for his effective use of social media to share the story of agriculture.

The Barossa Improved Grazing Group team of Emily Adams, Alice Tilley, Jane Evans, Brett Nietschke, Deb Scammell, Georgie Keynes, Alexi Kentish, Peter Mitchell, Julian Maul and Sarah Weaver took out the Best Rural Communicator award for ‘Strengthening Rural Connections: The BIGG Impact’.

Overall, the judges were impressed with the number of early-career, highly-skilled journalists who entered this year’s awards – a fact that augurs well for the future of rural and regional journalism in SA and NT.

The winners of the main categories are eligible to progress to the national Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists Star Awards, and if successful, to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Star Awards at the next IFAJ Conference, where the RMC winners have regularly excelled in the past.

2024 Rural Media & Communicators SA/NT Awards Results

JOURNALISM

2024 Rural Journalist of the Year

Sponsored by AgCommunicators

Winner: Joanna Tucker, YP Country Times

Highly commended: Joseph Moore, The Courier

2024 Best Rural Broadcast Journalist – Audio / Radio

Sponsored by AgCommunicators

Winner: Kristy O’Brien, ABC NT

2024 Best Rural Broadcast Journalist – Digital / Online

Sponsored by AgCommunicators

Winner: Eliza Berlage, ABC Riverland

Highly commended: Bill Ormonde, ABC Broken Hill

2024 Best Royal Show Story

Sponsored by AgCommunicators

Winner: John Gladigau, ifarmwell

2024 Rural Communicator Award