John Humphrys, of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, will receive one of broadcasting’s most prestigious awards today at a lunch in central London. He has won the Broadcasting Press Guild’s annual Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting.
The BPG awards are voted for by journalists who write about TV and radio, and will be presented today (Thursday) at a lunch in the Gladstone Library at One Whitehall Place in central London. Names of the other winners will be revealed at the lunch (see separate release embargoed till 12 Noon Thursday March 14th).
The TV nominations were announced last month, here:
and the radio nominations here:
John Humphrys has been a BBC reporter, presenter and interviewer for more than 40 years. He joined Today as a presenter in January 1987 and has also worked as a BBC foreign correspondent in America and Africa, a diplomatic correspondent and presenter of the Nine O’Clock News. The award citation says “his tenacious interviewing of politicians and others in the news has made his name a byword for fearless inquisition.”
The award comes at the end of a year in which his Today interview with his boss, the BBC director-general George Entwistle, about the handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal led directly to Mr Entwistle’s resignation that evening.
The award is given in memory of Harvey Lee, a leading light of the BPG, who died at the tragically early age of 41, and will be presented by his widow Marilyn. Previous recipients include Sir David Frost, Sir Terry Wogan, Melvyn Bragg, Charles Wheeler, Beryl Vertue and Michael Grade.
The awards are sponsored by Discovery Channel which is part of Discovery Networks. Discovery Networks has 12 channel brands in the UK reaching 11.8 million people every week covering factual, lifestyle and entertainment programming.
The invitation-only ceremony at One Whitehall Place is attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
For more information, please contact:
Torin Douglas, Broadcasting Press Guild, 07860 422992
Twitter: @bpgpressguild #bpgawards
For exclusive video clips and photographs, or to send a photographer, reporter or crew, please contact:
Caroline Watt, Senior Publicity Manager, Discovery Networks
Discovery Networks
caroline_watt@discovery.com
020 8811 3584, m: 07879 474223
Editor’s notes:
1. The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than 120 members – all journalists who specialise in writing and broadcasting about television, radio and the media in general. They include media correspondents, reviewers, previewers and feature writers from the major national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals.
2. Details of the nominations, previous BPG Awards and the event sponsor, Discovery Channel, can be found at: http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org, together with pictures and video of previous awards ceremonies and more on the history of the Harvey Lee Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award.
