Entries open for agricultural communications award

Now in its third year, the SRUC award is open to all current students and – for the first time – all former students who are engaged in publicly promoting agriculture.

Craig Davidson, Senior Agriculture Lecturer at SRUC, said: “We are delighted to welcome entries for this year’s Fordyce Maxwell Award for Agricultural Communications. 

“We want to hear from any SRUC student, or former student, who has helped spread the word about agriculture through written articles, social media content for a business, podcasts, vlogs, public events, or any other form of communication. 

“We’ve had two wonderful winners so far and we’re looking forward to seeing this year’s submissions.”

The announcement of this year’s Fordyce Maxwell award follows last month’s news that SRUC had launched the UK’s first courses in agricultural communications.

Fordyce, who died in 2022, spent many years as Agricultural Editor of The Scotsman, where he was also Diary Editor and a columnist. He had regular columns in The Herald, The Sunday Post and The Journal among others, and hosted his own segments on BBC radio and television. He was awarded an MBE for services to journalism and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scottish Society of Newspaper Editors.

The award was established by Fordyce’s family, including son Tom, Chief Communications Officer at SRUC.
The closing date for entries is Sunday May 24, with the winner to be revealed at the Royal Highland Show in June. 

For further details and to enter, visit www.sruc.ac.uk/fordycemaxwellaward

The last few copies of the book of Fordyce’s Scotsman articles, which his son Tom compiled, are available at www.fordycemaxwell.com – all proceeds go to Prostate Cancer UK and so far the book  has raised over £6,500 for the charity.