O2 media ‘Oscars’ in hunt for regional journalism talent

This year’s O2 Media Awards for Yorkshire and the Humber promises to be even bigger and better than ever, according to event organisers.

Established in 2009, the 2012 awards contest will this year see the introduction of three new awards to mark the changing nature of the industry. New categories will cover multimedia journalism and specialist publications and there will also be an Emerging Talent Award to recognize the skills of up and coming student journalists.

The O2 Media Awards have grown in size each year and regularly attract hundreds of entries from journalists working on newspapers, television and radio as well as digital news sites across the region.

For the fourth year running the competition will be free-to-enter. This year’s presentation evening will be held at the Northern Ballet Theatre in Leeds on July 18.

A total of 16 categories will recognise the most talented and creative people in the media industry from young journalists starting out on their careers through to those who, in the opinion of their peers, have made an outstanding contribution to the industry.

Judges are made up of experts from the media and include working journalists, editors and publishers.

Categories range from Reporter of the Year, TV Journalist of the Year, Photographer of the Year and Editorial Team of the Year. Previous winners have been BBC Look North, the Sheffield Star and The Yorkshire Evening Post.

The Yorkshire and the Humber O2 Media Awards are part of a series of regional media contests across the North. O2 employs more than 2,400 people at its Arlington Business Centre in Leeds.

Nicola Green, head of Communications and Reputation at O2 UK, said she was looking forward to a bumper year of entries and celebrating the work of regional journalists.

‘This promises to be a landmark year for the country with the London 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s diamond jubilee. We hope the media awards event will be just as memorable for all those associated with journalism across the Yorkshire and the Humber region. We are delighted that the awards are growing and raising standards each year.’

Deadline for entry nominations is May 10, 2012.

Journalists will be able to enter the following categories:

‘ Multimedia Journalist of the Year
‘ Photographer of the Year
‘ Feature Writer of the Year
‘ Sports Journalist of the Year
‘ Young Journalist of the Year
‘ TV Broadcast Journalist of the Year
‘ Radio Broadcaster of the Year
‘ News Reporter of the Year
‘ Business Journalist of the Year
‘ Scoop of the Year
‘ Editorial Team of the Year
‘ Emerging Talent Awards
‘ Specialist Publication of the Year
‘ Weekly Newspaper of the Year
‘ Daily Newspaper of the Year
‘ Outstanding Contribution Award

Entry forms are available by contacting Rossiter Media on 01925 576757 or by e-mail request to O2mediaawards@rossitermedia.co.uk