Food Sustainability Media Award to Highlight Food System Paradoxes, Propose Solutions

Food System Paradoxes

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation announced in early December the launch of a Food Sustainability Media Award to increase the public’s awareness of food sustainability issues worldwide, find solutions, and encourage action. The award will recognize excellent professional and up-and-coming journalists from around the world who have focused their reporting on topics relating to food security, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition. Applications for the award will open January 9, 2017.


“With this award, we want to connect the everyday person with issues that are ultimately affecting all of us, and we believe media is the best route to make [this] happen,” says Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, in a BCFN press release.

The award aims to highlight some of the major paradoxes that are impacting the global food system, most notably, hunger and obesity, food and fuel, and waste and starvation. Accepting entries in written journalism, photography, and video, it will recognize one published and one unpublished work in each category.

A panelist of nine experts and professionals in food and agriculture policy and research, journalism, and photography will judge the shortlisted entries. Among the judges is Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg, as well as Cassandra Waldron of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Ronaldo Ribeiro of National Geographic Brazil, Laurie Goering of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Olly Buston of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation.

The Food Sustainability Media Award aims to not only recognize impactful and informative reporting but to also increase the visibility of food system paradoxes, propose solutions, and engage the public. Both BCFN and Thomson Reuters Foundation believe that the media can play an influential role in the way consumers think about and interact with food, helping to create a more sustainable and just global food system.

Applications will open January 9, 2017, and entries can be submitted on the Sustainability Media Award’s website. Winners will be announced at the 2017 BCFN Food Forum. To stay in the loop you can submit your info, here.

For more information on the entry guidelines for each category, click here.