The list of 127 individuals who will judge this year’s Sony Radio Academy Award entries has been revealed by organisers.
They include representatives from the BBC and most of the major commercial radio operators, as well as people from TV, the music industry and radio reviewers and commentators.
Among this year’s judges are TV execs Sir Peter Bazalgette and Peter Bennett-Jones, singer Sharleen Spiteri, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and presenters including Janet Ellis, Annie Nightingale and Emma Freud.
Our own Stuart Clarkson – Editor of Radio Today – also joins the judging panel for the first time in 2012.
A record number of entries have been submitted this year across 34 categories, covering output from speech and drama to news, comedy and music.
A spokeswoman for the Sony Radio Academy Awards told us: “A separate panel of judges is put together for each category with each judge appointed by the Organising Committee and chosen because of a particular expertise that is directly related to whichever kind of radio they are being asked to assess. Judges are drawn chiefly from within the radio and related media industries and are asked to cast any personal and professional loyalties aside, basing their judgements solely on the entries submitted and not on any previous knowledge or experience they may have of the programmes, presenters or stations. Each panel works totally independently from each other – there is no cross-referencing or consultation between them. An entry will never be snubbed or rewarded on the basis of whether it’s been entered into another category, or how well it might be doing elsewhere or has done in previous years.”
Judges received entries in the category that they are judging earlier this week and have until 20th March to listen to the audio, read the accompanying text and make their decisions. Five shortlisted entrants will be announced for each category in late March/early April with the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners crowned on 14th May at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
John Myers, CEO of The Radio Academy and Chairman of the Sony Organising Committee said: “These are the most sought after awards in the radio industry and we are confident that the judging process we’ve set in place is not only robust but also fair. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all 127 of our judges for their time and expertise. We can’t wait to see the results of their hard work.”
See the full list of judges for 2012 and their biographies on the Sony Radio Academy Awards website.
Posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 8:12 am by RadioToday UK