AGCOM International News

Advances in agriculture and environmental issues brought to public attention through AGCOM International media initiatives

Hargrove-Klaas Receive Top ACE Award for WARDA Video Script

Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) has just awarded its 1999 Gold Award (first place) for "Script Writing for Visual Media" to Thomas R. Hargrove and Lawrence J. Klaas of AGCOM International. The award was given for the script of "Bintu and Her New African Rice: A Genetic Bridge to Food Security and Biodiversity," a 26-minute video produced for the West Africa Rice Development Association, based in Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast).

The video documents, through the eyes of Bintu, a woman African rice farmer, the desperate struggle for food in West Africa and how traditional rice varieties have bound farmers to an environmentally degrading system of slash-and-burn agriculture. It shows how WARDA scientists crossed the rugged African species of rice with the more productive Asian species to develop a remarkable new type of rice that is doubling and tripling production--and what that means to Bintu, and millions like her.

"I was hooked from the very beginning and continued to admire the smooth meshing of script and video as it went along," a judge wrote. "Writing is clear, easy to understand, yet hits the complexities of rice-growing in Africa."

Hargrove and Klaas also took the ACE Gold Award for script writing in 1996. ACE is a 700-member international professional society for agricultural communicators, based in the United States. The award will be conferred during ACE's annual conference June 12-16 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

WARDA is one of 16 International Agricultural Research Centers sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.

Web Services by Edward Stanza: WebMaster