Mr. N. Arjun Deva, President, Karnataka Madhyama Academy and Mr. Khadri S. Achyutan, Director News, Doordarshan Kendra, Bangalore will grace the occasion and give away the awards.

Since last two years the centre has been giving away awards for the best farm writings in Kannada. The awards are given in two categories - practicing farmers and general. This year Mr. D.D. Bharamagoudra of Gadag has been selected for the award in the farmer section. In the general section the award has been shared by Mr. Na. Karantha Peraje and Dr. N.V. Karunakara both from Puttur (Dakshina Kannada district). CAAM has been presenting the awards to encourage farmer-friendly journalism in Kannada. The awards carry a cash prize of Rs.2000 each besides a citation and a parisara shilpa.

The Centre has also announced a special award to Vidyabodhini High School, Balila of Sullia Taluk. Students and teachers of this school have successfully adopted soil and water conservation methods in the school campus and have set a model for others. The award which carries a cash prize of Rs.5000 along with a citation is given in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the field.

CAAM Initiatives

Farm journalism diploma

CAAM has initiated two programmes this year. The correspondence diploma course set off by the centre is the first of its kind in Kannada. CAAM has started this one-year course with an intention to support and encourage farmer-friendly journalism in Kannada. Topics like nature and importance of farmer-friendly farm journalism, types of farm writing, techniques of writing a good article, photo journalism etc., will be covered during the course.

Media for sustainable development

One of the objectives of CAAM is to facilitate media to focus on the positive efforts carried out in the rural areas. With this in mind, CAAM introduced a programme called, 'Media for Sustainable Development'. CAAM has organised two events under this programme, first of which was Harogerige Hogona Banni (Come, let us visit Harogeri). This programme was organised on July 17, 2003 with an objective to establish an organic link between sustainable development and media. BAIF Institute for Rural Development, Dharwad which has been working in 22 villages including Harogeri, has brought about considerable changes in these villages in the last six years through its participatory activities. The programme unfolded the different stages of sustainable development in Harogeri to the media. The event was organised for the journalists of Hubli and Dharwad, Karnataka State. The programme was successful in fulfilling its purpose as the response from both the sides was encouraging.

The second event in this direction was a talk on "media and development" by Mr. K.S. Achyutan, Director News, Doordarshan, Bangalore. The programme was organised by CAAM in collaboration with the University Law College, Dharwad. This interactive session gained good response from the packed audience in the auditorium.