Announcement of Winners of the 2021 Martabe Gold Mine Journalistic Work Competition, held online, Friday March 18, 2022.
Batangtoru, 18 March 2022 – PT Agincourt Resources (PTAR), operator of the Martabe Gold Mine, announced the winners of the 2021 Martabe Gold Mine Journalistic Work competition with the theme Preserving the Environment for the Future in an online event held on Friday March 18, 2022. This the fifth competition was held for 23 journalists from South Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli, North Tapanuli and Medan, who submitted 30 journalistic works in the competition. This journalistic competition is intended to appreciate the mass media journalists in North Sumatra who have been supporting the Martabe Gold Mine operations through their journalistic works.
PTAR Vice President Director Ruli Tanio stated that the theme of this year’s journalism competition is in line with environmental protection, a priority for all stakeholders:
Environmental sustainability is one of the company’s top priorities. PTAR will continue to carry out fundamental, structured and collaborative environmental programs with all stakeholders, as environmental conservation and biodiversity management is a shared responsibility and requires commitment and synergistic cooperation between the company, communities, government, media and related institutions, to achieve the goal of preserving the environment for the future.
The skilled winners of the Martabe Gold Mine Journalism Competition this year’s exciting competition:
Netty Guslina, a journalist from Focusmedan.com was declared the 1st Place Winner and received a cash prize of IDR 12 million with her reporting work entitled Barumun Sanctuary Tiger Gives a ‘New Breath’ for the Endangered Sumatran Tiger.
2nd Place Winner Sukri Falah Harahap, a journalist from Waspada.id who wrote about the Naposo Nauli Bulung of South Tapanuli Movement to Preserve the Environment gained the cash prize of IDR 9 million.
Jan Piter Simorangkir, a journalist from Medanbisnisdaily.com who won 3rd place with the article entitled In the Hands of Marandus the Garden of Eden is No Longer Barren for by a prize of IDR 6 million.
PTAR also announced 3 journalists who won consolation prizes and were given an appreciation of IDR 2 million each. The three winners were:
Arifin Al Alamudi, a journalist from IDN Times.com with the article Erwin’s Struggle to Save the Turtle Habitat on Muara Upu Beach
Ikhwan Nasution, a journalist from Medanbisnisdaily.com with the article entitled Together Restoring the Batangtoru Watershed Against Erosion
Dzulfadli Tambunan, a newspaper journalist from New Tapanuli with the article entitled Lubuk Larangan, The Local Wisdom for River Ecosystem Conservation
Lestantya R. Baskoro, senior journalist and lecturer at the Press Institute of Dr. Soetomo, and who was one of the judges, stated that the winners’ excellence lies in: 1) the details of the objects covered, 2) the background of the issue, 3) the delivery of language, 4) the structure of the writing, and 5) the value of the information.
According to Lestantya, with the issue of environmental preservation, having a strong power of writing can inspire other parties:
This is what is expected from an environmental news writing – to invite readers and to move readers to care and to love the environment. For example, in the article entitled Barumun Sanctuary Tiger Gives a ‘New Breath’ for the Endanagered Sumatran Tiger written by Netty Guslina, readers are invited to understand the role of the Persamuhan Bodhicitta Mandala Foundation in the Sumatran Tiger rescue program and through words are connected with the condition of the Sumatran Panthera Tigris within their home, the forests of Sumatra.
Lestantya continued with an evaluation of the effect writing can have:
While with the article entitled Naposo Nauli Bulung of South Tapanuli Movement to Preserve the Environment, we are confront information about the Naposo Nauli Bulung organization, a group is engaged in disaster prevention. This article describes how in each village such organizations develop memberships that encourage flood prevention programs and various resilience activities. From this article, we clearly hear the message that togetherness and mutual awareness are needed and are effective to help prevent flood disasters, help stop environmental problems, and create a safer village life.
Lestantya was happy to detail the success of all the winning entrants:
In the article In the Hands of Maradus, the Garden of Eden is No Longer Barren as the 3rd Place Winner, we see the profile of Marandus Sirait who has been greening the area around Lake Toba for a dozen years. This article was able to capture the journey of Marandus Sirait, a journey of a choice, a choice to green a forest, to have the green forest prevent landslides: a choice to leave his job in the capital city to make it all happen. Perhaps also this is a story about a journalist, who made a choice to write an article to inspire many people.
Participants Proud to be Involved
Netty Guslina, the 1st Place Winner, expressed her gratitude to the Martabe Gold Mine for regularly holding journalistic competitions like this:
With competitions like this, journalists from North Sumatra gain opportunity to hone their writing skills, and it is hoped that Martabe Mine will remain consistent with activities like this.
Sukri Falah Harahap, the 2nd Place Winner, is grateful to be able to win 2nd place:
I thank God that I won the second place. The journalistic writing style I applied was gained in the environmental journalism training held by PTAR with LPDS at PIA Hotel Pandan Central Tapanuli a few months ago.
Jan Piter Simorangkir, the 3rd Place Winner, thanked PTAR for helping and educating journalists in the mining area and North Sumatra:
Through this competition, we will produce reliable, caring journalists who participate in educating the community and give encouragement to people who care about the environment. If journalists are smart, the region and the country will also be smart.
PTAR Proud to be Involved
PTAR Senior Manager for Corporate Communications Katarina Siburian Hardono expressed her appreciation to the winners. Katarina explained, the announcement of the winners was the culmination of a series of Journalist Competency Strengthening activities which were held on 11 November 2021 in Medan and 7 December 2021 in Pandan, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra and which were attended by a total of 80 journalists:
Activities to strengthen the competence of journalists and build media capacity building have been carried out regularly since 2013. We see that this program has contributed to increased competence and knowledge of journalists at the regional and provincial levels. Therefore, we encourage media partners all across North Sumatra to take the initiative to write articles about environmental conservation in North Sumatra that are constructive and inspiring, that emphasize the progress of sustainability and pay great attention to the preservation of biodiversity.
Photo 1: Announcement of Winners of the 2021 Martabe Gold Mine Journalistic Work Competition which was held online, Friday (18/3).
