Bauer leads IRN nominations

Bauer Radio's news teams around the UK have nine nominations for this year's IRN News Awards, including three for the main 'best newsroom' award.

GMG Radio are shortlisted five times in two of the categories, while Global Radio have three nominations and Orion Media have two.

Bauer are the only group who could potentially win all five awards, as they're nominated in every category. Three of the nine nominations they're received are for the North East newsroom based at Metro in Newcastle.

The nominations in full are:

[b]Young Journalist of the Year[/b]
Sophie Calvert, 106 Jack FM Hertfordshire
Simon Conway, Bauer Radio North East
Sarah Cooper, Hallam FM
Declan Harvey, LBC 97.3/Global Newsroom
Darryl Murphy, Orion Media

[b]Best Original News Story[/b]
Legal Highs, Isle of Wight Radio
Cockermouth Floods, CFM
Raoul Moat, Real Radio North East
Francesca Bimpson, Real Radio North West
Limb Loss in Afghanistan, Real Radio Yorkshire

[b]Reporter of the Year[/b]
Katie Collins, Real Radio North West
Corazon Garcia, Heart 106
Vicky Lee, Real Radio Scotland
John Moss, Manx Radio
Gillian Wheelan, Clyde 1 and Clyde 2

[b]Newsreader of the Year[/b]
Andrew Bailey, Absolute Radio
Helen Catt, Spirit FM
Joel Goldman, Metro Radio
Paul Lockitt, Key 103
Michaela Richards, Heart Devon

[b]Best Newsteam/Newsroom[/b]
97.4 Rock FM
106.4 Andover Sound
Bauer Radio North East
Capital FM East Midlands
Key 103

The five awards will be handed out at a ceremony in central London on 7th March, along with an IRN Gold Award which will be announced on the day in recognition of outstanding contribution to news and/or sport in the UK.

Commenting on the nominations, IRN Managing Director Tim Molloy said: “The overall quality this year is impressive and I would like to thank everybody who entered for having a go and to congratulate the nominees, all of whom reflect a very high standard. In particular the nominations illustrate commercial radioʼs ability to not only communicate important local news but also to convey national stories in a highly relevant way.”

Andy Ivy, Chairman of the judges, added: "All the judges have commented on how much they have enjoyed listening to the entries. The enterprise and energy of journalists working in commercial radio across the UK shines through and with so much stunning audio to listen to, it has been a tough job to select the shortlists."