London, 18 March 2010

Reuters agriculture coverage has once again been recognised as the best in its class, winning a number of awards from the North American Agricultural Journalists Association (NAAJ). Chicago correspondent Christine Stebbins was awarded First Place in the annual contest for the second year running. This year she took top honours for her spot news coverage of the year-long controversy over the broken Chicago Board of Trade wheat contract. Her winning entry came from November 2009 when the CBOT announced controversial new fees for storing wheat.

Coverage praised
The NAAJ judge said of Stebbins’ coverage, which included alerts, a FACTBOX and expert academic sidebar, "It was written in clear, understandable terms within the grasp of both the layperson and expert. This is how you get the job done on short notice.'

The award was a further plaudit for our widely followed 2009 grain trade coverage which was cited in CFTC hearings on the battle between grain hedgers and Wall Street fund traders.

Writers honoured
NAAJ also awarded Honourable Mentions to Washington's Chuck Abbott in the Spot News category for his stories, ‘USDA chief says carbon bill won't hurt farmland,’ and ‘Big U.S. soy, corn crops may deflate price boom.’ Chicago's Karl Plume won praise in the Feature category for his story ‘Welcome to the Clone Farm,’ as did Rod Nickel of Winnipeg for his analysis story ‘U.S. food safety worries hit Canadian canola meal.’

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