NAAJ Special Projects Winners - 2023
Unlike all other categories, entries in this category may include work from writers who are not NAAJ members. A special project entry takes reporting to a higher level. The overall entry shows careful planning and enterprise. The entry also shows that time, talent, and in some cases, monetary commitments were made to produce the project. May be a team effort.
Number of entries: 6
Judge: Dan Looker is a past president of NAAJ. He covered agriculture for the Lincoln Journal-Star and The Des Moines Register before spending the final 23 years of his career as business editor for Successful Farming magazine.
Comments about the competition: I enjoyed reading all of these entries which reflect some of the best of agricultural journalism. Many years ago, I coached my son's soccer team and told them they were all winners. To say the same thing about these stories is only a slight exaggeration. However, because there were only six entries, I chose not to award honorable mentions.
FIRST PLACE — Chris Clayton, Todd Neeley, Pamela Smith, Matthew Wilde, Progressive Farmer/DTN
Climate Smart Farming — November 2022
Judge’s comments: Fine writing and thorough reporting put this entry on top. Vivid ledes took readers to a soggy field in Iowa and a sweltering gathering in Kansas. The package explored multiple facets of farm survival in the anthropocene epoch (my jargon, not the writers'). I liked Chris Clayton's delving into the "additionality problem" and his sidebar on contract considerations. The sidebar source, UNL law professor Dave Aiken, aptly describes the current carbon contract market as the Wild West.
SECOND PLACE — Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest and Emily Featherston and Jamie Grey, InvestigateTV
Program meant to help farmers in trade war overspent, lacked transparency and compliance checks — 10/24/2022
Judge’s comments: This was the contest's only truly investigative entry. For that reason, it came very close to first place. The reporting is based partly on federal GAO reports that are readily available, but it went well beyond that. A FOIA request turned up emails from farm lobbyists seeking inclusion in the lucrative Market Facilitation Program. The balanced reporting included comments from a Kansas farmer and a lawyer representing large farms to a University of Illinois policy specialist and an Environmental Working Group critic of the program. Both farmers and the general public need more of this type of coverage of agriculture and government.
THIRD PLACE — Jeff DeYoung, Aaron Viner, Gene Lucht, Nat Williams, Phyllis Coulter, Benjamin Herrold, Iowa Farmer Today, Illinois Farmer Today and Missouri Farmer Today
Inflation in Rural America, Iowa Farmer Today, Illinois Farmer Today and Missouri Farmer Today – 7/15-7/16/2022
Judge’s comments: Historians will find buried treasure in this midsummer 2022 snapshot of the rural Midwest dealing with inflation. The team of writers sourced this from small town cafes and food banks, farmers and truckers to university studies.