Ex-Capital Disney breakfast presenter Matt James has beaten BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio 1 to win this year's Radio Academy Innovation Award. Matt's "Paperless Studio" service was voted the best technological innovation by delegates at the Radio At The Edge event in London.
The award seeks to recognise “a real and significant innovation in the incorporation of new technology or thinking into the production or presentation of audio material for distribution to a wide listening audience”.
The Paperless Studio is a web-based application designed to bring together everything a presenter needs to do their show, and Matt has spent the past three years developing the service.
It combines a listener text inbox, request system, show planner, station reads, competition facility and a bank of content including news and showbiz gossip. The service aims to eliminate paper wastage and make radio stations more environmentally friendly.
BBC Radio 1 entered its alternative reality game, Frozen Indigo Angel. FiveLive's entry was for the Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo video podcast.
The three shortlisted entrants were picked by Radio Academy director Trevor Dann, Stuff magazine editor-in-chief Tom Dunmore, National Grid Wireless technology development manager Keith Halyer and UK Trade and Investment specialist Sarah Turner.