Farm Radio International is launching a scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. The competition is open to organisations and individuals that work with radio in Africa, including radio stations, broadcasters, production organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with a radio project, farmers’ associations with a radio show, etc. It is a collaboration of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), and other partners. The competition is committed to promoting gender equality and encourages scripts that feature innovations by women and men who are involved in farming and food production.

Competitors are invited to submit a radio script that tells the true story of a knowledgeable and inspiring smallholder farmer (or farmers) from their region who has developed an innovation in one of the following categories:

• Agricultural production, harvesting, or storage (including livestock and fisheries);
• Agricultural processing or food preparation;
• Marketing;
• Cooperation (collectives, cooperatives, community groups, partnerships, social networks); and
• Other innovations related to smallholder farmers and not listed above, for example, agricultural tools, agroforestry, plant varieties, on-farm production, or use of renewable energy.

To assist participants with writing the radio scripts, a free, two-month online scriptwriting training course will be offered, starting on August 24 2009, through the competition website. For those with limited internet access, the course will be available on a CD-ROM.

Top entries will be eligible for a variety of prizes, ranging from digital audio recorders to training opportunities. The winners will be announced in January 2010. Winning scripts will be published and distributed to radio stations across sub-Saharan Africa and made available on Farm Radio International’s website. All entrants will receive feedback on their script.

The script is to be prepared by talking with local farmers. Scripts can take a variety of formats - for example, dramas, interviews, or two-host conversations. The script must be an original piece of work written specifically for this competition. It must be in English or French, be between 500-2,000 words, and include references to information sources used to prepare the script (e.g., farmers, agricultural institutions, NGOs, documents). Participants are encouraged to include an audio file with their script; however, this is not a requirement. These may be in the local language, which, if used for recording, should be identified.

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Email from Blythe McKay to The Communication Initiative on July 28 2009.