The director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor, the Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey, Absolute Radio’s Geoff Lloyd and film buffs Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo have all been shortlisted in the radio categories of this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. The awards, sponsored by Discovery Channel, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London.
MacGregor’s BBC Radio 4 series, Germany: Memories of a Nation, marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by highlighting objects from 600 years of German history. It is shortlisted for the BPG’s Radio Programme of the Year award, in competition with the late night Duncan Barkes show on LBC and Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Jane Garvey is nominated as Radio Broadcaster of the Year, seven years after she joined BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour from Radio 5 Live, where – 21 years ago – she was the first voice to be heard. She is up against Sean Rafferty, the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s early evening music and interview programme In Tune, and Geoff Lloyd, presenter of Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime Show on Absolute Radio.
The BPG awards – given only for work commissioned in the UK – are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The BPG awards are sponsored by Discovery Channel. The awards lunch will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
Nominations for the BPG television awards were announced last week and can be seen on the BPG website here: http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2015/02/12/bpg-awards-2015-television-nominations/
Notes to editors:
- The winners will be announced at the 41st BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 13th 2015. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, which is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee, will be presented as well. Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only – but media organisations are invited to cover the ‘red carpet’ arrivals.
- The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than 120 members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, radio and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and websites.
- Previous winners of the Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Eddie Mair, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Simon Mayo, Kirsty Young, Graham Seed (as Nigel Pargetter), Charlotte Green and Nick Ferrari.
The full list of BPG Radio nominations 2015 is:
Radio Programme of the Year
Germany: Memories of a Nation (BBC Radio 4)
Duncan Barkes (LBC)
Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review (BBC Radio 5 Live).
Radio Broadcaster of the Year
Jane Garvey, Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4)
Sean Rafferty, In Tune (BBC Radio 3)
Geoff Lloyd, Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime Show (Absolute Radio).
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG: torindouglas@aol.com or 07860 422992
