Radio presenters Danny Baker, Lauren Laverne, Cerys Matthews and Paddy O’Connell have been shortlisted in this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards, sponsored by Virgin Media. Comedian Romesh Ranganathan is also among this year’s nominees for the BPG’s Podcast of the Year award, acknowledging the growth and quality of streamed and downloadable audio.
The 45th annual BPG awards, sponsored by Virgin Media, will be presented next month at a lunch held at Banking Hall in the City.
Cerys Matthews – her Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music – is nominated as BPG Radio Programme of the Year, alongside River, an episode of Soul Music (BBC Radio 4) about singer Joni Mitchell. Tara and George, presented by Audrey Gillan (BBC Radio 4), also makes the list. It explores the lives of two people in their late forties who sleep rough in London.
Danny Baker (BBC Radio 5 Live) and Paddy O’Connell, host of Broadcasting House (BBC Radio 4), have been shortlisted as BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year together with Lauren Laverne, who is nominated for her morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs both on BBC Radio 4.
In the BPG Podcast of the Year category, Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan is nominated alongside two podcasts aimed at helping people cope at times of great stress. Griefcast, with Cariad Lloyd, describes itself as “funny people talking about death and grief” and You, Me and the Big C was started by BBC presenter Rachel Bland who, along with other presenters, documented her treatment for breast cancer. The podcast delivered a candid look at cancer and Rachel’s death last summer prompted a flood of tributes.
The nominations for BPG Radio Programme of the Year are:
-Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 6 Music
-River (Joni Mitchell episode), Soul Music, BBC Radio 4
-Tara and George, presented by Audrey Gillan, BBC Radio 4
The nominations for BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year are:
-Danny Baker, The Danny Baker Show, BBC Radio 5 Live
-Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6 Music; Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4
-Paddy O’Connell, Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 4
The nominees for the BPG Podcast of the Year award are:nn- Griefcast with Cariad Lloyd
-Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan
-You, Me and the Big C
Previous winners of the BPG Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Jane Garvey, Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, James O’Brien, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Charlotte Green, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, Brian Redhead, Sir Mark Tully, Sandi Toksvig, John Finnemore, Michael Buerk, Susannah Simons and Graham Seed (Nigel Pargetter in The Archers).
The BPG Awards – given only for work commissioned or produced in the UK and broadcast in 2018 – are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The Awards lunch will be held at Banking Hall on Friday March 15th 2019 and is attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992
Notes to editors:
1. The winners will be announced at the 45th BPG Awards lunch at Banking Hall in the City on Friday March 15th 2019, sponsored by Virgin Media. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, the BPG Breakthrough Award and the BPG Chairman’s Prize are all in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee and will be presented as well. Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only.
2. Virgin Media, offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline. Its interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones. It launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland. Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, connecting over 22 million customers through operations in 12 countries across Europe. https://www.virginmedia.com/tv
3. The television nominations for this year’s BPG Awards were announced on February 14th 2019. www.broadcastingpressguild.org/2019/02/bpg-awards-tv-nominations/
4. 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 online publishers.
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