RT Wins Radio Broadcaster of the Year at New York Festival

RT Wins Radio Broadcaster of the Year at New York Festival

RT Radio 1 and RT lyric fm take top international honour

RT has once again been honoured with the prestigious Broadcaster of the Year award at the 2015 New York Festivals International Radio Awards. Selected from finalists spanning 32 countries, this is third time RT has won this coveted radio award in recent years.

In 2011, RT radio services became the first Irish stations in the award ceremony's 55 year history to be awarded the accolade of Broadcaster of the Year. The following year, in 2012, RT brought home the top prize once again. After only a two-year hiatus, RT has once again wowed the judges and been selected as the overall winner of this major international award.

This year, RT saw off competition from a myriad of both public and commerical broadcasters including BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), US National Public Radio (NPR), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio Rivadavia (Argentina), Radio Free Europe (Czech Republic), Radio France and Radio New Zealand to name but a few. Winners in the television and film categories include such broadcasting heavyweights as CNN, ESPN, HBO, Showtime, Lionsgate, Al Jazeera, National Geographic and ZDF Germany.

Rose Anderson, Executive Director of New York Festivals International Radio Awards, says: New York Festivals is proud to recognise RT as the Broadcaster of the Year in the radio category. Once again, their exceptional and innovative programming - from drama to documentary and reporting - demonstrating the power of the individual voice, the depth of their subject matter and their storytelling ability, has captured the attention of RT 's radio listeners and the New York Festivals International Radio Awards Grand Jury. Congratulations on a brilliant year!

Jim Jennings, Managing Director of RT Radio, says: For RT to be named New York Festivals' Radio Broadcaster of the Year for the third time is truly an honour. The win is testament not only to the collective output of our radio stations, but also to the global appeal of our programming. In this digital age t is important that our content appeals to our international audience as much as our listeners in Ireland. Our programmes not only have relevance to our global audience, they also resonate to a point that RT Radio 1 and RT lyric fm have been collectively named Broadcaster of the Year once again. This is extremely important to us as a public service broadcaster. I would like to wholeheartedly thank New York Festivals and extend my congratulations to the producers, editors and staff in RT Radio 1 and RT lyric fm who have excelled in their dedication, creativity and professionalism once again.

In addition to being named Broadcaster of the Year, RT also received a total of 34 awards in the radio categories, including 23 medals at the 2015 New York Festivals for individual programmes on RT Radio 1 and RT lyric fm. The awards include 11 for RT Radio 1's multi-award-winning documentary strand, Documentary on One; six for Drama on One; eight for programmes from RT Radio 1's music, comedy and entertainment department, spanning topics as diverse as a look back over the past 25 year of one of Dublin's most iconic music venues (Whelans at 25) to documenting the 1994 Rwandan genocide through the medium of music (Music Passport: A Journey through Genocide); and RT Radio 1 reporter Brian O'Connell took home a gold medal for best investigative reporting' for his series on Today with Sean O'Rourke, Direct Provision, which focused on the direct provision system in Ireland.

Head of RT Radio 1, Tom McGuire, who accepted the award in New York on RT 's behalf, says: This is brilliant news for RT . To be awarded Broadcaster of the Year by New York Festivals is the ultimate recognition for Irish radio-programme makers. The gold awards were achieved across documentary making, music, investigative journalism and drama. The winning programmes cross borders and boundaries to bring the listener to an undiscovered world. Well done to everyone who contributed to this amazing success.

On RT lyric fm, The Lyric Feature series collected five awards including the Grey Heron Media produced feature for Weekend Drive, Limerick 2014: As it Lives and Breathes, which won gold in the profiles and community portraits' category.

Head of RT lyric fm, Aod n Dubhghaill, says: RT lyric fm is being recognised again internationally for the breath of output it provides in its coverage of music, arts and culture. The lyric winners this year at the New York Festivals include programmes about Allegri's Miserere, music of the Great War, an innovative group of musicians in Amsterdam, Ireland's city of culture 2014, and an interview with Peter Gabriel about the voice and singing. Also unique this year is lyric's collaboration with a local commercial station Live 95fm and Grey Heron Media on a BAI funded series which won gold. The contributors, presenters and producers of these programmes deserve credit for the wonderful contribution to enriching the experience of listeners, wherever they are around the world.

RT s Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy, Lorelei Harris, says: Congratulations to all those involved in winning this year s New York Festivals Broadcaster of the Year Award for RT . This coveted international prize shows that RT is a serious player on the world radio stage. Across the board, from the acclaimed Documentary on One and Drama on One, to our factual, arts, music and entertainment programmes and RT lyric fm, our production teams have demonstrated their capacity to compete and win against some of the largest and best of the world s broadcasters. I am intensely proud of their achievement and their ongoing commitment to providing Iri

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2015/0623/70990...
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