During its 82nd annual convention Nov. 19-21 in Kansas City, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting gave out multiple awards for excellence in agricultural broadcasting.
The convention, which was attended by more than 700 broadcasting professionals, ag industry leaders, newsmakers and students, honored Brownfield Ag News broadcast supervisor and 18-year media veteran Meghan Grebner as Farm Broadcaster of the Year. Grebner oversees the network’s news and radio programming, anchors and writes its livestock market reports and hosts the daily “Healthy Living” program. Grebner currently serves as President of the NAFB Foundation’s Board of Directors.
NAFB’s Horizon Award, recognizing an outstanding broadcaster in his or her first five years of professional broadcasting work, was presented to Hoosier Ag Today and Michigan Ag Today Assistant News Director C.J. Miller, who produces on-air ag news content airing on the networks’ more than 100 affiliates.
Your Ag Network’s “Travelin’ the Bluegrass” host Alan Watts received the NAFB’s Workhorse Achievement Award. “Watts has built a trusted connection with Kentucky’s farmers and rural communities through his on-the-road storytelling and coverage of local events, sharing the stories of people that make rural Kentucky thrive,” NAFB’s release says.
The Doan Award went to Michelle Rook, national news and market reporter for Ag Day TV and U.S. Farm Report at Farm Journal, for her report “Soyfoam: From the Field to the Fire,” while the Dix Harper Meritorious Service Award was given to Dr. Dwayne Cartmell, former farm broadcaster and current professor at Oklahoma State University, for, the release says, “his years of commitment to strengthening the engagement of the next generation of ag communicators with farm broadcasting and agribusiness careers.”
This year’s NAFB Hall of Fame inductees are veteran broadcasters Janet Adkison and Gale Cunningham, both of whom have served as President of the association. Adkison is currently Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy for the Missouri Farm Bureau, while Cunningham serves as Ag Director for the Central Illinois Multimedia Group.
First-place winners of NAFB’s audio broadcast content awards were: for marketcast, American Ag Network’s Susan Littlefield; for newscast and feature, Nebraska’s Bryce Doeschot; and for interview, Your Ag Network’s Parker James.
The Herb Plambeck Awards, recognizing top creative farm broadcast advertising, went to: in the single ad category, AgNews 890’s Mick Kjar for the North Dakota Livestock Alliance Annual Summit; and for series, Littlefield for “Farming Minds: Mental Health in Agriculture.”
NAFB also gave out News Service Awards, with the Editor’s Choice award going to Midwest Communications’ Joanna Guza, the Editor’s Choice for Exceptional Merit to Agriculture of America’s Jesse Allen and the Excellence in Ag Reporting award to Your Ag Network’s Parker James.
