Midlands Media Awards 2011

This year is the 10th anniversary of Midlands Media Awards, which is part of Birmingham Press Club. I attended the event (as one of the judges), which was held at the newly developed Edgbaston cricket ground and it was nice to see so many new and familiar friendly faces.

The ceremony honours those who excel in journalism and photography.

Here are the categories:

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR (DAILY)
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR (WEEKLY)
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
THE TREVOR ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE YEAR
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
BUSINESS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
TV AND RADIO JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
HEADLINE OF THE YEAR
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR
ONLINE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
COMMUNITY/ONLINE CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
INNOVATION AWARD
STUDENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Hosted by Heart FM DJ Ed James, BBC’s Genelle Aldred, ITV’s Bob Warman and Lucy Kite plus telly personality Llewela Bailey, the audience saw established and emerging talent snap up the prestigious gongs recognising their hard work.

The night certainly reminded me of my journo days and how fulfilling it was to nab a front page exclusive, get by lines (and it was even better to get a picture by line) and most of all writing about something that was popular amongst the readers.

Apart from seeing fabulous friends like Tara Tomes, Marverine Cole, Joy Stefanicki, Austen Duffy, Dorothy Hobson, Isabel Clarke, Jayne Greene, Claire Procter and Karen Strunks, one of my highlights was going on stage with the great Bob Warman.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. I very much look forward to next year’s entries already! And also, many thanks to the lovely Jas Sansi for letting me post some of his photos here. You can see the set through Jas’ Flickr account.

Gongs, golden year and the Great Hall

The prestigious University of Birmingham’s Great Hall played host to the 2010 Royal Television Society Midlands Centre Awards last night. The event, which also celebrated the Centre’s 50th anniversary, saw the cream of the Midlands’ digital, broadcast and television communities being honoured for the outstanding work they have done in the past year.

Top producers and celebs joined hosts Emma Willis (MTV, I’m A Celebrity…) and Ed James (Heart FM) on the night.

Best Regional Programme went to The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands and a special commendation went to Made in Birmingham – Reggae Punk Bhangra – Swish Films.

This year, the Awards committee introduced a new category – Best on Screen Game. The decision was based on the growing games community being produced in the region. It was also a privilege to have met Inspector Morse writer, Colin Dexter. He was given the top prize of the night – the Baird Medal – for his contribution to broadcasting.

Here are the winners of the night:

Best Promotional Programme
Disabled and Living in Walsall – Pat The Bull Films

Best Drama

TV Drama
Land Girls – BBC Drama

Best Short Film
Handle with Care

Best Acting Performance

Male
Danny Webb

Female
Sophie Ward

Best Newcomer
Becci Gemmell

Best Digital Innovation
Such Tweet Sorrow – Mudlark

Best Entertainment
Countrywise (War of the Roses) – ITV Central

Best On Screen Personality

Male
Bob Warman – ITV Central

Female
Sameena Ali-Khan – ITV Central

Best New Talent
Dave Stephenson – Fullrange

Best On Screen Game
Battle of Britain 303 Squadron, Fish in a Bottle for Channel 4

Best Production Craft Skills
Neil Hillman – The Audio Suite

Best News
Central Tonight – ITV Central

Best Current Affairs
White Collar Boxing – Andy Bevan, ITV Central

Best Documentary
The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands

Best Regional Programme
The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands

Baird Medal
Colin Dexter OBE

More images can be seen on the RTS Mids Facebook Fan page.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. As Hon Secretary of RTS Mids Centre, it’s very nice to see a thriving digital and television community here in the Midlands that are making an impact not just nationally but internationally as well. I am very much looking forward to the 2011 entries already!

A golden night

Tonight is the Royal Television Society’s 2010 Midlands Centre Awards. We’re going to be at the Great Hall celebrating not just the best of the Midlands broadcast community but also the Centre’s 50th anniversary. Very excited to see everyone this evening – there’ll be lots of pics to come and tomorrow, I will be sharing the winners of the night. All I can say is that it will be a good night for all.

The event is going to be hosted by two lovely people – Emma Willis and Ed James.

There will be live Tweeting on the night. Follow #rts360 to keep up to date with the latest on the Awards.

Good to luck to all the nominees and here’s to a good night!

How to be a Presenter

I produced the second Royal Television Society Futures Midlands event of the year. How to be a Presenter is something that I am hoping would help wannabe presenters find out the basic ins and outs of the industry in order to get them on to the right path. Just basing it on my experience as a production manager, a lot of the applicants I’ve encountered didn’t really want to be a researcher or a runner, but they want to be a presenter. The only thing is that they think that the normal route is to do production work, but in my opinion this really isn’t the best avenue to take.

So, I got in touch with a range of presenters, an agent and a producer to get a wide range of insiders’ tips on the subject.

Speakers on the night were:

• Ed James – Heart FM Breakfast Presenter – Chair
• Marverine Cole – Sky News Presenter
• Kester Demmar – BBC East Midlands Assistant Editor
• Alison Hammond – GMTV Roving Reporter
• Kate Lawler – Kerrang Radio DJ
• Kate Moon – Kate Moon Management Agent

Some of the winners of The Next Big Presenter competition were there too. Their prize was a presenting opportunity at the 2009 RTS Mids Centre Awards.

The event was held at BBC, The Mailbox. Many thanks to all those who came.