Danielle Grindlay reports on IFAJ Congress (Nov 2016)

ABC Rural Journalist, Danielle Grindlay may have illustrated her superb abilities when she took out both the Best Rural Journalist - Radio and the Best Rural Journalist - Online awards in RMSA's Telstra & Rural Business Support Rural Media Awards in 2015, however she was still keen to increase her abilities in reporting on rural issues.

Danielle successfully applied to the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists for an IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award to enable her to travel overseas to study rural media at an international level. The annual award recognises the industry’s rising stars who have leadership potential and as Australia's entrant, Danielle was fortunate to win one of the ten international awards allocated by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) for 2016.

As a result, Danielle was invited to attend the IFAJ Congress held in Bonn, Germany. However as the prize did not include funding to fly her to Germany for the Congress, Rural Media SA decided to partially support her with the cost of airfares.

Now back from her international experience, Danielle is keen to recommend this award to other young rural journalists. She feels that as most rural journalists work and live in isolated areas, one of the largest joys in attending this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress was to bounce ideas off like-minded people.

Danielle has written a comprehensive report on her experience and this can be viewed by clicking on the following link:

Danielle Grindlay's IFAJ Congress Report

Danielle Grindlay (6th from left) with international delegates at the Bonn IFAJ Congress