The 2021 Italian Journalism Awards Have Been Announced !

On the 18th of November the second edition of the Italian Journalism Awards ceremony took place in the wonderful historical setting of the Castle of the Princes Capano di Pollica, an emblematic UNESCO community of the Mediterranean Diet.

After the success of the first Italian edition, this year the Journalism Awards returned in a hybrid event, where participants could join both online and in person, which made the event extra special as the previous edition couldn’t be celebrated face to face due to the Covid 19 restrictions.

This second edition had the same mission as the first: to encourage and reward the work of media professionals in their effort to disseminate the values associated with the agrifood field; increase consumer trust, create healthier food choices, improve food sustainability or educate to participate, innovate and move forward.

With this in mind, EIT Food wanted to reward with a first prize of 1500€ and 700€ for the runner up, the Italian journalists’ efforts to promote the transformation of the food ecosystem towards healthier and more sustainable habits and practices.

In order to decide who the 2021 winners would be, there was an intensive jury deliberation. This year the jury was composed of:

Sonia Massari, Director of the Future Food Academy, Lorena Savani, Innovation Manager at EIT Food CLC South, Roberto Zalambani,UNAGA President, Tommaso Cinquemani, AgTech Journalist and freelance videomaker, Duccio Caccioni, Scientific Director of the FICO Foundation and Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, President of the UniVerde Foundation.

After going through all the submitted works, the jury members decided on the two winners:

The first prize of 1500€ went to Federico Turrisi, with his work tittled: “QuantaCO2emetteunprodottoalimentare? Eccoperché l’etichetta climatica non sarebbe una cattiva idea” which translates to "How much CO2 does a food product emit? This is why climate labelling wouldn't be a bad idea." In the words of Federico Turrisi:

Eating is the quintessential daily action and each of us, in our own small way, can be a driver of the change that the agrifood sector needs. Consumers have a role to play, and their role is to inform themselves in order to make responsible decisions."

The runner up position, winning a prize of 700€, was for Gianluca Atzeni with an article titled “L’UE cambia idea sulle biotecnologie. Per il vino è davvero una nuova opportunità?” which translates to "The EU is changing its mind about biotechnology. Is it really a new opportunity for wine?". Gianluca Atzeni had this to say:

Sustainability and biotechnology go hand in hand. If we want our Italian wine sector to be able to tackle the challenges of climate change, biotechnology needs to become our future tools."

The Italian Journalism Awards were yet again a success as they reached a great number of Italian media professionals, spreading EIT Food core values of Innovation and Sustainability in the process.

From EIT Food we would want to thank everyone that was involved in the Portuguse Journalism Awards, from the organisating team to every single journalist that took the time to participate. See you next year!