Early birds receive Iris Medal at Science and Society Evening – Early Birds

On Monday evening, broadcaster Menno Bentfield and editor-in-chief Steve Nighten received the 2024 Iris Medal on behalf of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ebo Bruins, who presented this award for excellent science communication during the Science and Society Evening in Leiden.

“On behalf of the entire Vroege Vogels team, Editor-in-Chief Steve Nigten and I would like to thank you very much for this great award,” said presenter Menno Bentveld in his speech. “In the media world, there is of course constant buzz about De Tegel, De Ring, De Disk or Het Beeld. It was almost never about De Penning, but that’s because no one thought it was possible to go home with this award at all. It was “The surprise is great, the honor is huge and the impact is huge. In times when our nature, our environment and our public broadcaster are in such dire straits, this award for the only permanent program that puts nature and the environment first is a tremendous award of recognition and support.”

In accepting the award, Bentfield also thanks the editors, NPO and BNNVARA. “With a great team of young and experienced creatives, we try to use every possible platform to tell the story about nature and the environment and thus reach every possible target group. I cannot stress enough that it all starts with passionate and knowledgeable editors. I thank BNNVARA and NPO for that “

Vroege Vogels also thanks all the biologists, ecologists, engineers, philosophers and all the other people we host every day on our programs and on our platforms to explain their knowledge of the world around us.

The fact that Vroege Vogels would be honored with the Iris Medal was announced in the program on Friday Time for Max. Bentfield was a guest on the program which paid tribute to the 46th anniversary of Early Birds. Some of the editorial staff were also present live in the studio.

Why Vroege Vogels received the Iris Medal can be read into the jury’s motivations. From the jury report:

“Unlike any other institute – because we can certainly call it an institute – Vroege Vogels knows how to make people aware of the nature around them,” said the Iris Medal jury. “Defender of nature and spokesman for the environment,” is how radio and TV show Vroege Vogels calls himself. “Your daily share of nature!”, it is called on Instagram. At Vroege Vogels there is a lot of walking through this nature, with or without harnesses. People view plants, animals, fungi and fungi with joyful curiosity and often awe. With all his well-researched nature stories, Vroege Vogels attracts an audience for science that may not necessarily be looking for science, but who understands it. For 46 years, the program has been drawing the attention of a wide audience to topics such as climate change, environmental pollution and the importance of biodiversity, through an increasing number of channels. Because Vroege Vogels brings nature closer and thus contributes to its survival, the program deserves the 2024 Iris Medal.