BBC radio presenters Danny Baker, Lauren Laverne, Cerys Matthews and Paddy O’Connell have been shortlisted in this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan is also among this year’s nominees for the BPG’s Podcast of the Year award, acknowledging the growth and quality of streamed and downloadable audio.
The 45th annual BPG awards, sponsored by Virgin Media, will be presented next month at a lunch held at Banking Hall in the City.
Cerys Matthews’s Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music is nominated as BPG Radio Programme of the Year, alongside River, an episode of Soul Music (BBC Radio 4) about singer Joni Mitchell. Tara and George, presented by Audrey Gillan on BBC Radio 4, also makes the list. It explores the lives of two people in their late forties who sleep rough in London.
Danny Baker from 5 Live and Paddy O’Connell, host of Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4, have been shortlisted as BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year together with Lauren Laverne, who is nominated for her morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs both on BBC Radio 4.
In the BPG Podcast of the Year category, Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan is nominated alongside two podcasts aimed at helping people cope at times of great stress. Griefcast, with Cariad Lloyd, describes itself as “funny people talking about death and grief” and You, Me and the Big C was started by BBC presenter Rachel Bland who, along with other presenters, documented her treatment for breast cancer. The podcast delivered a candid look at cancer and Rachel’s death last summer prompted a flood of tributes.
The nominations for BPG Radio Programme of the Year are:
– Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 6 Music
– River (Joni Mitchell episode), Soul Music, BBC Radio 4
– Tara and George, presented by Audrey Gillan, BBC Radio 4
The nominations for BPG Radio Broadcaster of the Year are:
– Danny Baker, The Danny Baker Show, BBC Radio 5 Live
– Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6 Music; Late Night Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4
– Paddy O’Connell, Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 4
The nominees for the BPG Podcast of the Year award are:
– Griefcast with Cariad Lloyd
– Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan
– You, Me and the Big C
Previous winners of the BPG Radio Broadcaster award include Alistair Cook, Sir Terry Wogan, Jane Garvey, Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, James O’Brien, Sue Lawley, Jonathan Ross, Evan Davis, Charlotte Green, Simon Mayo, Sean Rafferty, Kirsty Young, Brian Redhead, Sir Mark Tully, Sandy Toksvig, John Finnemore, Michael Buerk, Susannah Simons and Graham Seed (Nigel Pargetter in The Archers).
The BPG Awards – given only for work commissioned or produced in the UK and broadcast in 2018 – are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The Awards lunch will be held at Banking Hall on Friday March 15th 2019 and is attended by the winners, BPG members and broadcasting executives.
Posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2019 at 1:50 pm by Roy Martin