BBC stations celebrate at the PPI Awards

A number of awards have been won by the BBC’s stations in Northern Ireland at the recent PPI Radio Awards in Ireland.

The annual Irish awards, sponsored by Phonographic Performance Ireland, took place last week in Kilkenny, where independent station Ocean FM took home the most awards.

But BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle secured 13 nominations across the full range of their output – from news and current affairs, to specialist music and listener-led programmes – and won in a variety of categories, including BBC Radio Foyle winning Gold in the Local Station Of The Year Category.

Fergus Keeling, Head of Radio for BBC Northern Ireland, says: “Quality, creativity and diversity are the open secret of BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle’s success. We work hard to provide audiences with great programmes – reflecting their needs and interests and putting them at the heart of everything that we do.

“Listening figures are one measure of success, but it’s also important to have critical recognition from other broadcasting professionals. Tonight’s PPI Awards are a tribute to the skills, talent and commitment of the BBC’s staff. I am enormously proud of their achievements and of the work that they do every day, week and month of the year.”

The BBC award winners in full are below, and you can see all the winners from RadioToday Ireland:

• BBC Radio Foyle won Gold in the Local Station Of The Year category
• BBC Radio Foyle’s Sarah Brett won Gold in the News Broadcaster Of The Year category
• Evening Extra, which won Gold in the News Programme category for its programme coverage of extreme snow conditions
• The Listening Project, which won Gold in the Short Feature Category
• Blas, which won Silver in the Craoltóireacht le Gaeilge (Irish Language) category
• BBC News NI on BBC Radio Ulster won Bronze in the News Story category for its coverage of the Flags Protest
• Ralph McLean, who won Bronze in the Specialist Music Broadcaster Of The Year category
• BBC Radio Foyle’s Pure Culture, which won Bronze in the Specialist Speech category