Entries open for agricultural communications award

_{The award is named after Fordyce Maxwell}

Writers, podcasters, social media influencers and storytellers are being encouraged to enter the 2025 Fordyce Maxwell Award for Agricultural Communications.

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 24 May, with the winner to be revealed at the Royal Highland Show in June. 

Posted by SRUC on 23/04/2025