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Environmental Journalism Award winners announced

CAPTION: Environment Bay of Plenty chairman John Cronin (second from right) with Environmental Journalism Award winners Matthew Torbit, Rebecca Beehre and Stuart Whitaker.

Environmental journalism in the Bay of Plenty is better than ever, if the standard of entries in the Environment Bay of Plenty Environmental Journalism Awards is anything to go by.

Winners of the awards were announced in Whakatane today, with Bay of Plenty Times journalist Matthew Torbit taking the top print prize.

Mr Torbit’s entries were well researched and presented in a way that maintained the reader’s interest all the way through.

Stuart Whitaker from the Bay News was presented with a highly commended award for the quality of his entry. His pieces had a distinct writing style, reflecting a genuine interest and a very good understanding of his subjects.

This year’s awards featured a change for entrants, with print and radio journalism split into two separate categories, recognising the differences in the two mediums.

Radioworks Rotorua’s Rebecca Beehre was the inaugural winner of the radio category. Her superb portfolio covered a range of topics from natural disasters to an inventive rat trapper.

Overall, the standard of entries submitted was very high, making it difficult to select winners.

Bruce Fraser, Environment Bay of Plenty’s group manager community relations said the awards were set up not just to recognise the excellent journalism being done on environmental issues in the Bay of Plenty, but also to encourage journalists to report on environmental topics

“The increase in entries is an indication to us that we are achieving both those goals,” he said. “This year we have seen some absolutely outstanding journalism on environmental issues in the Bay of Plenty.”

ENDS

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