BPG Awards 2016 – Radio nominations

BPG-NOW-TV-Lockup-With-Info-FINALDanny Baker, Lauren Laverne, Test Match Special and The Archers are among the top radio presenters and programmes shortlisted for this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about TV and radio.

The 42nd annual BPG awards, sponsored by Sky’s online streaming service NOW TV, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London.

– Danny Baker has been nominated as Radio Broadcaster of the Year for his Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live.
– Lauren Laverne is nominated for her BBC 6 Music programme and also for The Pool, the online platform she launched with Sam Baker, former editor of Red magazine.
They are shortlisted with:
– Ritula Shah, the presenter of The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4, and
– comedy writer and performer John Finnemore for John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme on BBC Radio 4.

The nominations for Radio Programme of the Year are:
– Test Match Special, on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Radio 4, for its coverage of The Ashes series;
– The Archers, on BBC Radio 4, for making waves with innovative plot lines;
– The Reunion, presented by Sue MacGregor on BBC Radio 4, for a wide range of subjects last year from Spycatcher, Guantanamo Bay and the Birmingham Six to Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads; and
– Fright Night on BBC Radio 4 – two plays for Halloween, The Ring and The Stone Tape, which used 3D Binaural sound very scarily.

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.

Previous winners of the Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Jane Garvey, Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, Brian Redhead, Mark Tully, Michael Buerk, Susannah Simons and Graham Seed (Nigel Pargetter).

The Awards lunch, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 11th 2016, will be sponsored for the first time by Sky’s online streaming service NOW TV. http://www.nowtv.com. The event will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.

Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992

BPG Awards 2016 Radio Nominations

Radio Broadcaster of the Year

Danny Baker, The Danny Baker Show (BBC Radio 5 Live)
John Finnemore, John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme (BBC Radio 4)
Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music & The Pool)
Ritula Shah, The World Tonight (BBC Radio 4)

Radio Programme of the Year
Fright Night (BBC Radio 4)
Test Match Special (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra & BBC Radio 4)
The Archers (BBC Radio 4)
The Reunion, presented by Sue MacGregor (BBC Radio 4)

Notes to editors:

1. The winners will be announced at the 42nd BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 11th 2016, sponsored by Sky’s online streaming service NOW TV. 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.

2. The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than a hundred 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.

3. The television nominations for this year’s BPG Awards were announced on February 11th 2016. http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2016/02/11/bpg-awards-2016-television-nominations/

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