Multimedia Group Limited’s Joseph Opoku Gakpo has been adjudged the 2018 world best video journalist by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ).

He was handed the 2018 IFAJ Star Prize in Broadcast Video award on Wednesday night at a ceremony at the Wageningen University and Research at Wageningen in the Netherlands where the federation is holding its annual congress.

A Joy News Hotline Documentary he produced, “Rampaging Soldiers” won him the award. Rampaging Soldiers told the story of how Fall Armyworm, a pest native to the Americas that first got to Africa in 2016 has spread fast, destroying farms beyond salvage.

Watch the abridged version of the video documentary here.”‹

The documentary also highlighted how the pests made farmers lose lots of money and threatened their food security. 

The judges described the video as “an important story that was engaging and effectively told.” 

They commended Joseph for “his production values and strong storytelling, noting some of the best storytelling appears to be coming from the African continent.”

Presenting the awards to Joseph, the host noted: “this is outstanding because Joseph was competing against journalists from other organisations in other countries who arguably are much better equipped and have lots more resources at their disposal.” “But in 2018 my friend, you are the best in the world,” he added.  

Watch the video of the award presentation here:

It was Joseph’s second award for the night after he was also honoured along with 9 other journalists with the Young Leaders in Agric Journalism Award by the IFAJ. Joseph was one of only two journalists from Africa to be named for the young leaders’ award.

About 10 other journalists including Australian Scott Radford-Chisholm picked up various awards for the best print story, photography, broadcast audio, broadcast digital media as well as agric technology reporting.

The IFAJ is a federation of journalists and communicators and it works to promote press freedom and agriculture reporting, as well as provide a platform for the professional development of members and international networking. It consists of more than 5000 journalists and communicators from 45 countries across the world. President of the IFAJ Owen Roberts and Madelon Kaspers of Rabobank presented the award to Joseph.

President of the local chapter of the IFAJ in Ghana - the Ghana Agric and Rural Development Journalists Association - Richmond Frimpong commended Joseph for picking up the award. “Congratulations. You have made us all proud,” he said at the congress grounds in the Netherlands soon after the awards ceremony.