A second Joy News journalist has been awarded by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) with the IFAJ/Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism award.

Prince Appiah, who is with Kumasi-based Luv FM, received the award together with nine other journalists from across the world in a ceremony that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota in USA on Saturday.

Winners were chosen from applicants from the over 50 member countries of the Federation.

Applicants submitted works that demonstrate outstanding achievement in reporting as well as showed excellent potential as leaders of the industry in the years to come.

Mr Appiah’s stories Desert Tomatoes and another story on Post Harvest Losses at Drobon in the Ashanti region were part of the stories that won him the awards.

He dedicated his award to his colleagues in the newsroom.

“I want to dedicate this award to all my colleagues in the newsroom. A special thanks to Nana Asenso Mensah who I did most of the stories with.

I believe this recognition will encourage more journalists to venture agriculture journalism because agriculture is the core of our sustainability on earth so things about it must be on our hearts as journalists”, he explained.

The IFAJ/Alltech Young Leaders Award was established in 2006 by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and Alltech to recognize emerging leaders in agricultural journalism and communications from around the world. 

Prince becomes the second journalist from the Multimedia Group Limited to win the award after Joseph Opoku Gakpo won in 2018.

It is however his first international award after he was shortlisted in 2017 for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.

This is the second award he has won in a matter of three months after winning four awards and being adjudged the Overall Best Journalist Award at the maiden Ghana Journalists Awards for the Ashanti Region.

The Young Leaders as part of the award participated in a Boot Camp in the days prior to Congress, which included professional development and networking workshops and farm visits in southern Minnesota.

“The Boot Camp has been an eye-opener for me as a journalist. It will helped to give me more direction on how to tackle agriculture stories to get the optimum results,” Prince said about how the Boot Camp has benefited him so far.