Friday 15 July 2011

Twelve years with the Guild of Agricultural Journalists/John Deere journalism course

David Mascord leading a session on the 2010
GAJ/John Deere journalism training course
If I  haven't made any of the mistakes mentioned in my post about journalists and numeracy, I've just calculated that this weekend I'll be celebrating my 12th year of running sessions on the Guild of Agricultural Journalists' journalism training course, sponsored by John Deere.

I'm not an agricultural journalist myself, but that's not the point. We start on Sunday evening in Nottingham with an overview of journalism and an introduction to work opportunities. 




Then, as usual, from Monday we'll spend two days at John Deere HQ in nearby Langar, going over the basic principles of writing and interviewing and presenting material for print and online audiences.

Course attendees are currently studying or working in agriculture and horticulture and, as part of the course,  go on to work experience on titles including Farmers WeeklyFarmers Guardian and Amateur Gardening. Some go on to get jobs or freelance work on host titles.

At the end of the two days, attendees enter a competition to complete a writing assignment with a first prize of £250.

I hope to blog from the event if I can while running the sessions - and maybe get some of the attendees to do the same.

No comments:

Post a Comment