Bursary Report Guidelines

Bursary reports are usually for publication on the MPG website following the recipient’s trip/event.

This type of report needs to be factual and interesting to a broad spectrum of readers and contain eye-catching visuals.

Reports should contain:

  • Trip/ event title, date, location, name of bursary recipient (report author)
  • Bulleted aims and objectives of the bursary recipient
  • Reports should be at least 1500 words and may include plant lists. Reports on the website written by horticulturists such as Spring flowers in the Peloponnese can be referred to as an example.  An alternative would be to provide a shorter image-based diary, such as Nature and walks in southern Tuscany.
  • Photographs, diagrams, maps, links to video clips (any/all that are relevant to trip/event) – captions

Reports should:

  • be submitted no later than one calendar month after returning from the trip/event by email to bursary@medpag.org.  A printed copy will not be required
  • be carefully checked and edited before submission and follow botanical nomenclature protocol with correct use of italics
  • be created as a Word document or if using another word processor saved in RTF or TXT format
  • not use any special formatting such as bullets, bold or italic unless required for accurate plant naming – just simple text divided into paragraphs
  • include photos/maps etc attached, separately, in JPG format with captions. Please indicate clearly where the images should be placed in the text, but it is not necessary to embed them in the text as long as you indicate clearly where you would like them placed (for example, by inserting a line saying “[INSERT IMAGE xxx HERE]”) – although note that the position may change during the subsequent editing process to make the document suitable for the web. Images that you intend to be placed side by side should have identical aspect ratios.
  • include images that are a minimum of 800 x 800 pixels; captions should be short

Please note that:

  • If a bursary report is used or published elsewhere in part, or as a whole, MPG should be credited with granting the bursary and a link to the report on the MPG website should be added
  • Extracts from the report may also be used on social media with a link to the full report on the web
  • A separate note should be provided for the committee stating whether the bursary recipient felt his/her aims and objectives were achieved and whether there were extra/surprising outcomes