APPLY: Blogging Competition on Agriculture

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in collaboration with FARA, Yam-Pukri, CAFAN, AYF, ANAFE, SPC/PAFPNET ande-Agriculture is pleased to launch the 2nd Edition of the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards).

This contest is organised in the framework of the ARDYIS project, which aims to raise youth awareness and improve their capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in ACP countries using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The aims of this blog competition are to:

• Put into limelight issues, successes and challenges faced by youth engaged in: agriculture in urban and rural areas;
• Encourage the production of information and the use of new information and communication technologies by young farmers’ groups and organisations interested in the “youth in agriculture” question;
• Promote the sharing of information on the issues of agriculture and rural development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Who can participate?

The YoBloCo Awards are open in two categories:

a. Individual category

This category is open to students in agricultural training courses, young farmers, journalists or other young people interested in ICT or agriculture.

b. Institutional category

This category is open to local or national

• young farmers’ organisations;
• young members of farmers’ organisations;
• young members of any organisation interested in agriculture, rural development and ICT.

For this competition, an organisation is understood as any type of non-profit or for-profit association, cooperative, forum, network or related grouping, excluding government institutions. Organisations that receive funding from governments but are not formal governmental institutions can be eligible if they fulfil all criteria.

If the organisation or grouping submitting an entry is not officially registered in the country, it should be recommended, via a letter of recommendation, by a national partner organisation, which is officially registered.

When young members of an organisation are submitting an entry in the “Institutional category”, they should apply on behalf of their organisation. If the entry wins an award, it is the organisation, which will be declared winner and will receive the cash prize. The blog creator or a representative of blog creators (if it is a team) will be invited for the prize giving ceremony and receive a trophy on behalf of the winning organisation. When a team applies on behalf of their organisation, the person representing the team must be specified in the application process. The cash prize won would be sent to the organisation.

For both categories, the young people participating must be between 18 to 35 years old (by the time of submission) and be nationals of ACP countries signatories of the Cotonou Agreement (see Note 1 below).

How to participate?

Individuals or organisations who wish to submit a blog and take part in the competition will have about 4 months to prepare or update their blogs with content related to agriculture (see Section 3 below). Blogs and all required information/documents will be submitted via an online form between December and January 2014 (the link to the blog submission form will be provided on this page as from 2 December 2013).

Prior to the blog submission, all people/organisation interested to be updated regularly on the competition can subscribe on this link: http://eepurl.com/GAJA9

Selection criteria

The main selection criteria are the following:

• Quality of language in posts
• Originality of posts/articles (most posts should be written by the entrant)
• Quality of analysis in the posts
• Frequency/Consistency of blogging
• Animation of the blog
• Presence of agriculture related content (especially since the launch of the contest for existing blogs)
• Overall technical quality of the blog

For the institutional category, additional criteria are:

• Presence of information on the organisation’s activities
• Presence of information in youth in agriculture issues

Prizes

A. Individual category

• 1st Prize:  1,500 Euros
• 2nd Prize: 1,000 Euros
• 3rd Prize: 800 Euros

B. Institutional category

• 3000 Euros per region (West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, Caribbean and Pacific)

C. Special Prizes

• Best female blogger: 1000 Euros (only individual blogs will be eligible for this prize)
• Best blog on Family Farming (see Note 4 below): 1000 Euros (an individual or institutional blog may be eligible for this prize)
• Best blogs with business potential: at least two blogs will be selected, out of the best finalist individual blogs selected by the public, to receive mentorship and incubation opportunities  (See Note 5 below)

D. Runners-up

• A number of runners-up in will receive a certificate of participation

Winning blogs and other best blogs will be promoted by CTA and its partners’ various channels.  In addition, authors of winning blog or other best blogs will have the opportunity to be involved in future activities of CTA or its partners.

Deadline and key dates

Launch of the competition: 8 October 2013

Submission of Blogs: 2 December 2013 – 31 January 2014

Online Evaluation (public): February – March 2014

Jury Evaluation: April – May 2014

Winners Announced: June 2014

The date of the prize giving ceremony will be announced subsequently.

For further information please click here