Media coverage of food is often limited to how it tastes. While that's important, the Food Sustainability Media Award goes beyond taste - recognising that food is really 'good' when it benefits people and the planet.
The global food system faces unprecedented challenges. Poverty, over-consumption, growing population and climate change are some of the most critical threats to our Planet. Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to shed light on some of the paradoxes affecting our food system.
Hunger & Obesity – for every undernourished person there are now two obese or overweight people in the world;
Food & Fuel – a third of agricultural cereal crops are used to produce animal feed or biofuels despite hunger and malnutrition;
Waste & Starvation – 1.3 billion tons of edible food is wasted every year, four times the amount needed to feed the 815 million undernourished people around the world.
Food sustainability is a global concern, and we believe the media has a key role to play. By informing and shedding light on today’s food paradoxes, the media at large can engage consumers so that – in turn – they can contribute to the creation of a more equitable and sustainable future, starting from their food choices.
The Food Sustainability Media Award aims to recognise the work of professional journalists and emerging talent from all over the world for excellence in reporting and communicating issues related to food security, sustainability, agriculture and nutrition.
Entries to the Food Sustainability Media Award will be judged in two categories: written journalism and multimedia.
For each category we will award both one published and one unpublished piece of work.
Winning published work in the written journalism and multimedia categories will receive a €10,000 cash prize.
Winning unpublished work in the written journalism and multimedia categories will receive an all-expenses paid trip to attend a Thomson Reuters Foundation media training course on food sustainability.
Both winning unpublished entries will be distributed via the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the BCFN websites.
The winning unpublished written work will also be distributed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation via the Reuters wire, reaching an estimated 1 billion readers.
For the Award’s two categories, both published and unpublished work can be submitted. Published and unpublished entries are judged separately.
In addition, published and unpublished finalists in both categories are put forward for the Best of the Web Award. The winner of this award is chosen by the public.
Click a category below to find out more.
This category recognises excellence in written journalism for a news/feature article published in print or online that addresses topics, stories or issues related to food sustainability through distinctive, accurate and original reporting.
This category honours exceptional video, photography and audio content that sheds light on stories related to food sustainability through in-depth visual and audio storytelling and original and creative use of a chosen medium.
All shortlisted entries for the Food Sustainability Media Award will be assessed by an independent panel of leading professionals from the fields of journalism, photography, food and agricultural sustainability policy and research.
The Food Sustainability Media Award aims to highlight innovative solutions to today’s food challenges. Looking at some of the current research in this area is BCFN Yes! (Young Earth Solutions), an international initiative by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition which supports young researchers and rewards the best ideas around food and sustainability. Find out more and view past research projects.
The Food Sustainability Index is a ranking of 34 countries based on the sustainability of their food systems. The index, a collaboration between the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, provides data on 58 key performance indicators that measure the sustainability of food systems across three themes: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges. Find out more and access the index.