The Radio Academy announces winners for ARIAS 2024
Including:
Rob Burrow MBE, Laura Smyth, Danny Mylo & Rosie Madison, Scott Mills, Tim Burgess, Forth 1's Boogie in the Morning, National Prison Radio Association, Goldhawk Productions The Sisters, BBC Asian Network, Audio Always A Place To Call Home, RNIB Connect Radio, John Robins and more.
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Plus moving industry tributes for the late Steve Wright and Annie Nightingale honoured with The Pioneer Award posthumously.
The Radio Academy ARIAS 2024, hosted by Alice Levine and Romesh Ranganathan, took place tonight at London's Theatre Royal. The winners of 27 awards were announced, including The Pioneer Award, Best Music Entertainment, Best New Podcast, The Comedy Award, Best Local Radio Show and Network of the Year.
After another landmark year for the audio and radio industry, the ARIAS celebrated some of the most inspiring achievements of UK individuals, networks and stations over the last 12 months. Created by The Radio Academy, a charity dedicated to supporting people in audio and radio, The ARIAS is an inspiring evening that is committed to shining a light on audio's thriving community.
Attendees this year included Greg James, Vick Hope, Marvin Humes, Trevor Nelson, Jane Garvey and Fi Glover, Jamie Laing, Zoe Ball, Nish Kumar, Rick Edwards, Alex Scott, Ken Bruce, Nicole Appleton, Lauren Laverne and many more. In addition to KISS FM's Sam Darlastan who hosted backstage interviews with winners.
Rugby League legend Rob Burrow MBE took home two gold awards for Best New Podcast and The Creative Innovation. He also won silver in the Best New Presenter category for his podcast, Seven: Rob Burrow. Produced by BBC Radio Leeds, the one-of-a-kind podcast is hosted by Rob alongside his wife Lindsey. He asks seven questions to a range of sporting greats using an eye gaze machine due to having Motor Neurone disease.
Radio trailblazer Annie Nightingale CBE was honoured with the Pioneer Award posthumously for her vital contribution to the broadcast industry and paving the way for talented women and non-binary people in the electronic music scene. BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne and BBC Radio 1's Martha were joined onstage with Annie's daughter Lucy, and shared how "the industry will be forever grateful for her passion to music and broadcasting". Their speech was accompanied by clips from Annie's documentary and photos of her throughout the years.
The radio industry also joined together to pay tribute to the late Steve Wright. This included an introduction from Alice and Romesh who described him as a "Broadcasting great" followed by a video filled of tributes. Lead singer of Scottish rock band - Wet Wet Wet; Marti Pellow also gave a special music performance onstage of his song 'Wichita Lineman' - the track which closed Steve's BBC Radio 2 Afternoon show for many years, and a personal favourite.
Regional and local radio took home 11 Gold awards including Forth 1's Boogie in the Morning for Best Music Breakfast Show; Pulse 1 Breakfast with Mylo & Rosie for Best Local Show; BBC Radio Manchester for The John Myers Station of the Year Award and BBC Radio Newcastle won The Impact Award and Best Speech Breakfast Show.
Further wins across the evening included BBC Radio 2 Scott Mills for Best Music Entertainment Show, Absolute Radio's Tim's Listening Party for Best New Radio Show; Marianna Spring for Best Speech Presenter; Prison Radio Association's Free Flow for Best Specialist Music Show; The Royal National Institute of Blind People for Community Station of the Year; Goldhawk Productions The Sisters for Best Drama and BBC Asian Network crowned UK Station of the Year. BBC 5 Live's 'John Robins reveals his struggles with alcohol addiction and his journey of recovery' won the popular public-voted Radio Times Moment of the Year which gained over 20,700 votes this year.
The full winners list can be found here.