History of the Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting

Harvey Lee (1950 - 1991) was a leading light in the BPG throughout the 1980s. He worked as the media correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and was successively Guild secretary, annual Awards organiser and BPG Chairman. It was Harvey who launched sponsorship for the annual Awards lunch so that we could progress from the enjoyable but down market events in London cellars to a hugely successful ten years at the Royal Opera House before moving in 1998 to our present venue, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

In June 1991, Harvey was tragically diagnosed with cancer, but this did not stop his passion for journalism; he was working at the TV Festival in Cannes, France, only a couple of weeks before he died at the appallingly early age of 41, leaving a wife and two young daughters. The Guild responded by raising a benefit for the family and instituting the ‘Harvey Lee Award’ in his memory. It was agreed that it should be presented to an individual or a group for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting and that each year's winner should be decided, after due discussion, by the Guild's Executive Committee.

The Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting was first awarded in 1992 and has been presented by Harvey's wife Marilyn every year since.

The Winners of the Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting since 1992 have been (in chronological order):

John Tusa
David Hatch
Sir David Attenborough
Richard Dunn
Charles Wheeler
Michael Grade
Michael Wearing
The News at Ten Team
Cilla Black
Ted Childs
Jim Moir
Brian Lapping
Greg Dyke
Sir Denis Forman
Melvyn Bragg
Anne Wood