EIT Food reveals its 2021 Spanish Journalism Awards winners

On the 14th of December, the much awaited Spanish Journalism Awards ceremony  took place in an online format in which its participants had the incredible opportunity of, not only finding out who this year’s winners were, but also to attend an insightful round table: "Discovering the trends of the Future"

To stretch the wait a little longer for the results of the awards, and with it, the excitement and nerves of the journalists, before revealing the winners, the round table took place, in which several proffesionals from the respective fields presented and discussed about the following agrifood trends:

• Regenerative Agriculture, with a presentation by Orkatz Pagola, advisor and trainer in Regenerative Agriculture and member of Olako Agroecological Management,
• Personalized Nutrition, with a talk by Yolanda Sanz, research professor at IATA-CSIC
• Water Scarcity, with an intervention by Julio Berbel, professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Córdoba.

The three experts presented their respective topics and shared many interesting and revealing facts, for example, Julio Berbel shared the following about water scarcity with the audience:

At a Spanish level, there is evidence that the average temperature is rising. It might be shocking to hear, but in Spain it rains the same as in England, the difference here is there is a higher evapotranspiration (which is defined as the loss of moisture from a surface by direct evaporation along with the loss of water by transpiration from vegetation). It is not raining less than before but the variability has changed.”

Then Orkatz Pagola intervened with his knowledge about regenerative agriculture, he had this to say:

“Soil is the nutritional basis of the crop. Healthy soil generates healthy plants. A healthy plant builds healthy soil. The nutritional quality of food is dropping significantly. Regenerative Agriculture is the agriculture of the future because it is the one that has the most adaptability. It will ensure that food has better nutritional quality.”

And finally Yolanda Sanz presented her topic and said the following about targeted nutrition:

“The goal is to nourish not only our organism, but also our microorganism in order to have a healthier lifestyle. Targeted nutrition aims to reach that goal by better characterizing the nutritional needs of specific groups and individuals.”

Following the round table, it was time to finally reveal the winners of the third edition of the Spanish Journalism Awards.

The Journalism Awards arrived to Spain in 2019 with the mission of encouraging and reward the work of media professionals in their effort to disseminate the values associated with the agrifood field; increase consumer trust, create healthier food choices, improve food sustainability or educate to participate, innovate and move forward.

With this in mind, EIT Food wanted to reward with a first prize of 1500€ and 700€ for the runner up, the Spanish journalists’ efforts to promote the transformation of the food ecosystem towards healthier and more sustainable habits and practices.

The jury of this third consisted of  Begoña Pérez-Villarreal, general director for Southern Europe of EIT Food; Victoria Moreno, Deputy Vice President of ScientificTechnical Areas of the CSIC; Lourdes Zuriaga, vice president of the APAE (Association of Agri-Food Journalists of Spain); and Victoria González, winner of the previous edition and web editor at MuyInteresante.es and MuyHistoria.es.

To make their decisions, the jury had to evaluate a total number of 52 works that were submitted. They wanted to highlight “the special value” of the work carried out this past year and a half by the media professionals “due to the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

After an intense deliberation, the jury reached their conclusions and revealed the winners:

Rubén Ortega, journalist of the Spanish TV program España Directo (TVE) earned the title of winner of the awards this year, with his work titled “A farm where humans, cows and robots coexist”.  This is the very first time that the Spanish EIT Food Journalism Awards reward a television report.

The report was broadcasted on May 3rd on España Directo. It is the tell of a livestock farm in Paradinas de San Juan (Salamanca) where a robotic technology has been introduced in its day to day. The work of Rubén Ortega stands out for "its capacity for synthesis", as assessed by the jury. In addition, he manages to "explain a lot in a short time", and with a "great didactic sense". "The visual format helps to make the content more enjoyable and clear," added the jury, in addition to highlighting as very appropriate "the contextualization and development of information."

The runner up title went to Elisa Navarro, editor on Aragón TV, with her article “Queens: bee farmers” published in the journal Soberanía Alimentaria. The article tells the story of two women from Zaragoza who eight years ago chose to live in Talamantes, a small town near Moncayo, where they developed a type of livestock "brave and pioneer: Lucía and Natalia are bee farmers". There, they are in charge of 700 hives in winter and 1,500 in summer, and can gather up to 30,000 or 40,000 bees, which they sell through a special courier service for live animals. The jury highlighted "the absolutely innovative activity". "It is a novel livestock industry that unites elements such as rural areas and women, as well as being a very interesting example for other people." The jury has also highlighted "the sophistication and the niche market that its opened" with this example, and values that "it is very well told".

With the two winners revealed, the 2021 Spanish Journalism Awards ceremony concluded.

From EIT Food we would want to thank everyone that was involved in the Spanish Journalism Awards, from the organising team to every single journalist that took the time to participate. See you next year!