Scriptwriting Competition - Farm Radio International

Congratulations to John Cheburet, a journalist from The Organic Farmer, a magazine and a radio show aired on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, who won first prize in an Africa-wide scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation. Fourteen other radio broadcasters and producers also won prizes for their entries.

In July 2009, radio professionals from across sub-Saharan Africa were invited to submit a radio script about an innovative smallholder farmer in their area. To help participants develop their scripts, they were encouraged to participate in a free two-month online training course on scriptwriting. Eighty-two entries were received from 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

The first-prize winner impressed an international panel of judges with his script about an innovative Kenyan farmer who uses sawdust to lengthen the storage period of Irish potatoes. His prize is a study visit at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. This award is sponsored by FAO.

Lydia Ajono from the Ghana Community Radio Network won the award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster for her script about a woman farmer who grows henna plants and sells them for processing into dyes and cosmetics. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) will sponsor her trip to the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in November 2010. Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor from Shine FM in Kenya received the Marie Coulibaly Award for the top entry by a woman for her script on sack farming. Sack farming involves putting soil and composted materials into a plastic bag and growing vegetables in the “sack.” This is a very useful innovation for those without land. She will receive a certificate recognizing her achievement.

All 15 winners will receive high quality digital audio recorders sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa. Winners will also work with Farm Radio International’s managing editor, using feedback received from contest judges, to improve and finalize their scripts. The 15 winning scripts will then be published in French and English and distributed by Farm Radio International to approximately 500 radio organizations across sub-Saharan Africa. They will then be transformed into a wide variety of programs and shared with a rural audience of millions of farmers.

The winners and script titles in alphabetical order by country are:

·         Felix Houinsou, Benin – Using weaver ants to protect fruit trees from pests

·         Issakou Yagui Assouma, Benin – Crush the maize stalk to preserve the grains

·         Adama Zongo, Burkina Faso – The pump mill

·         Lydia Ajono, Ghana – The miracle local plant “zabila/lelle” or henna plant: The turning point for food security for a smallholder woman farmer in northern Ghana

·         Gabriel Adukpo, Ghana – A farmer suffocates stem borers to death and saves his cocoa farm

·         Rosemond Ohene, Ghana –  A farmer protects his young oil palm seedlings from rodents with jatropha

·         John Cheburet, Kenya – Sawdust prolongs the storage life of potatoes

·         Stanley Nyakwana Ongwae, Kenya – Women re-invent hanging gardens technology to solve land crisis

·         Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor, Kenya – Sack farming: Unlimited vegetable harvest

·         Fredrick Mariwa, Kenya – A local farmer in Kenya uses water hyacinth to produce chicken feed

·         Andrew Mahiyu, Malawi – Innovative farmer uses animal dung to protect his crops by fending off hungry goats

·         Gladson Makowa, Malawi – What fattens pigs is still a mystery

·         Lamine Togola, Mali – Composting, the best practice for improving soil fertility: The case of Dien

·         Assétou Sidibe, Mali – Scarecrows and cassette tapes protect rice fields from predatory birds

·         Lazarus Laiser, Tanzania – Transforming bicycles into a vehicle of innovation

Farm Radio International carried out the scriptwriting competition in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), UNESCO, FAO, the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Donner Foundation, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), IPS Africa, and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).

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For more information about the competition and winners, contact:

Blythe McKay, Development Communication Coordinator, Farm Radio International, bmckay@farmradio.org or 613-761-3652.

The course results are in! The following 34 people completed all the course assignments and will be receiving a sansa and certificate to reward their hard efforts:

Anane Gbadago
Andrew Mahiyu
Andrews Osler
Daniel Osei-Bonsu
Dereje Moges
Fredrick Mariwa
Fredrick Mugira
Gabriel Adukpo
George Katongole
Gladson Makowa
Happiness Mnyachibwe
Ismaila Senghore
Jefferson Massah
John Cheburet
Justin Boswell Oryema
Khadija Chembe
Lazarus Laiser
Lilian Manyuka
Lucas Kulwa
Lydia Amy Ajono
Mary Yongolo
Monica Mandala
Odong James
Petronillah Simwenyi
Pius Sawa
Robinson Wikana
Rosemary Nyaole-Kowuor
Rosemond Ohene
Rotshak Wakdet
Sachia Ngutsav
Samuel Okocha
Sawuratu Alhassan
Susuma Susuma
Tiwonge Ng’ona

Stay tuned for mid-January when we will be announcing the winners of the scriptwriting competition!!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to those who submitted entries for the competition. To make sure we received your entry please check that your name is on the following list. If you sent us an entry but you do not see your name please contact Blythe Mckay at with your entry by Friday November 6 at the latest.

list of people who submitted scripts:

Andrew Mahiyu

Andrews Osler

Dereje Moges

Fidele Niyigaba

Filius Chalo Jere

Fr. Bento DeSOuza

Fredrick Mariwa

Fredrick Mugira

Gabriel Adukpo

George Katongole

Gladson Makowa

Happiness Mnyachibwe

Ismaila Senghore

James Odong

Jefferson Massah

John Cheburet

Justin Boswell Oryema

Kwabena Agyei

Lazarus Laiser

Lilian Manyuka

linus fiakeye

Lucas Kulwa

Lydia Ajono

Monica Madala

Peter Labeja

Petronillah Simwenyi

Philip Nana Koah

Phinehas Udoeyo

Pius Sawa

Rachel Awuor

Richard Elorm Ovulley/Dennis Eghan

Robinson Wikana

Rosemary Nyaole

Rosemond Ohene

Rotshak Wakdet

Samual Asaase-Kwaw

Sawuratu Alhassan

Stanley Nyakwana Ongwae

Susuma Susuma

Suwie A. Regina

This is a reminder that the last day to submit your script for the scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation is November 1, 2009. For more information about the competition please visit the following website www.scriptcompetition.net.

If you have been participating in the online course, you can submit your script online. Here’s how: Log into the Scriptwriting Competition Course on Moodle, go to the last module (Module 6), and click on “Submit your script for the competition here.” Upload the file with your script, and you’re done!

If you have not been taking the online course, you can submit your script by e-mail to:  

Remember that, as well as receiving valuable feedback on your scriptwriting skills, you may win one of our valuable prizes. Each of the 15 winners will receive an Olympus LS-10 audio recorder. One lucky winner will have the opportunity to travel to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for a 3-5 day training visit in 2010. Finally, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is sponsoring an award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster. The winner will have the opportunity to participate in the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in 2010.

If you have any questions about your submissions, please send an email to Blythe McKay:  

We look forward to reading your final scripts. Good luck!!!

In 2007/2008, Farm Radio International organized a scriptwriting competition on climate change adaptation. Listen to one of the winning scripts to get some inspiration for your own writing!

When Farm Radio International invited African radio broadcasters to a radio scriptwriting competition on Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change, more than 50 scripts were submitted. Gladson Makowa from Malawi was one of the 15 winners. He wrote the script Manure the magic worker that illustrates how composted manure can have advantages over synthetic fertilizer during dry seasons, as it helps retain soil moisture, leading to better yields and decreased erosion.

Listen to the audio version of Gladson’s radio script to get some scriptwriting inspiration! Click on the link below to begin. You can also read the script here.

Audio: Manure the Magic Worker

We hope that you are having fun interviewing innovative farmers.

We have some great news! Each of the 15 winners will receive an Olympus LS-10 audio recorder. These prizes are generously sponsored by Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

One lucky winner of the scriptwriting competition will have the opportunity to travel to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for a 3-5 day training visit in 2010. This award is generously sponsored by FAO. The FAO will also sponsor the audio production of four of the winning entries.

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is sponsoring an award for the best entry by a community radio broadcaster. The winner will have the opportunity to participate in the AMARC 10 conference, to be held in Argentina in 2010.

We can’t wait to receive your entries for the competition. Remember, the deadline is November 1.

Good luck!

Are you one of the many participants in the Scriptwriting Competition taking the online course? If you complete the entire course you will receive a nice prize.

All participants who complete the course will receive a certification and a Sansa MP3-player with built-in microphone and radio. This little device can easily be brought out in the field to record interviews with farmers and market sellers, like on the photo below.

To be eligible for the prize you have to complete all the phases of the course. These include the submission of your story idea and focus statement, the team task and the three quizzes. Finally, you will also have to submit your final script in the end of the course.

So don’t wait any longer, submit your story idea and focus statement now to receive feedback from our experienced scriptwriters!

A market seller in Ho Market, Ghana, is being interviewed by Sawuratu Alhassan with a Sansa MP3-player. Photo: Farm Radio International.

The online course is already off to a great start. After two days there is a lot of activity and discussions on the training website. It’s not too late for you to take part in the online course!

The Scriptwriting Competition on Smallholder Farmer Innovation in sub-Saharan Africa is a great opportunity for you to connect with local farmers and share their successful techniques with a broader audience. So far, over 160 participants from across the continent have signed up for the competition!

All those who sign up for the competition are eligible for a free, online training course. The course will improve your scriptwriting skills and help you research and write a good, story-based script. The course was launched on August 24 and will run through October 16.

If you would like to participate in the course, make sure you have signed up for the competition and received your username and password, then go to www.farmradiotraining.org and log in to start the course

August 24^th is the starting date for the online course and it’s coming up fast! Remember to log in to the course site and tell us if you want to participate or not.

If you signed up for the Scriptwriting Competition you will have received an e-mail with your username and password to the online course website. You need to go to the course website www.farmradiotraining.org, log in, and let us know if you want to participate in the course. It’s very simple, once on the course website find the link “Click here to let us know if you would like to participate”, click on it and then select “Yes”.

(If you have trouble finding the link it is the second link you can click on, underneath “Everything you need to know about the Scriptwriting Competition Course”.)

Two weeks ago, Farm Radio International launched the Scriptwriting Competition on Smallholder Farmer Innovation. So far, 65 participants from more than 20 different countries have signed up for the competition. Good luck to you all. Please note we will only accept one script per participant! However, there can be more than one participant per radio station or organization.

Each participant can submit one script for the competition and this script must be an original piece of work written specifically for this competition. It must be in English or French, be between 500-2000 words, and include references to information sources used to prepare the script (e.g., farmers, agricultural institutions, NGOs, documents, etc.).

You have until November 1st, 2009 to submit your script, so there’s no need to stress. In a few weeks (August 24) the online Scriptwriting Competition Course will start. If you follow the course you will learn how to create inspiring radio pieces about smallholder farmer innovation and write them down in script format.

You can read more about the online course on this page.