Six
of the best for BBC Wales
BBC
Wales scooped a magnificent six top awards in the BT Welsh Press
awards held at Cardiff’s Marriott Hotel this evening (Tuesday
16 April 2002), with another nine entries highly commended by judges,
who included BBC News frontman Huw Edwards.
Betsan
Powys, from BBC Wales top current affairs programme Week In Week
Out, was named BT Welsh Journalist of the Year. She got the judges’
vote for her hard-hitting programmes including her report on whistleblower
social worker Charles Faber, Running into Crisis, which resulted
in his suspension the day after the broadcast, and the covert recording
of Anglesey vet Meredydd Jones, selling antibiotics on the doorstep.
Betsan,
who took the top title after also being named BT Welsh News Broadcaster
of the Year, had a "wide-ranging talent" and her journalism
was "full of maturity enhanced by a clear and articulate presentation
style," said judge Simon Cole, Managing Editor of Sky News.
Highly
commended in the News Broadcaster category were Geraint Vincent
and Gilbert John from BBC Wales. Judges said Geraint Vincent "brought
real energy and presence to the screen whether live or recorded",
while Gilbert’s work for BBC Radio Wales showed he was "a
master of radio journalism".
Betsan
Powys also compellingly presented A Plague on the Land about the
foot and mouth crisis which helped win BBC Wales’ Week In Week
Out the BT Welsh News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year award.
A
Plague on the Land - which followed three neighbouring farming families
in Montgomeryshire as they sought to come to terms with the consequences
of the disease - was "a highly evocative documentary",
judges said. The families’ suffering "was there for all
to see" and the programme provided a "fascinating, emotion-charged
peep behind the battle lines drawn up by MAFF and put the whole
tragedy into a personal context", they added.
BBC
Wales’ Newyddion programme and BBC Radio Wales’ The Week
that Changed the World, about the September 11th terrorist attacks
on the United States, were also highly commended.
Miles
Fletcher, BBC Wales business correspondent, took the title in the
BT Welsh Business/E-Commerce category. Judges said Miles’ entry
stood head and shoulders above the rest. "A highly informed
reporter who brings background, context and history into sustained
and authoritative news reporting", was their commendation.
BBC
Wales scooped a new award, introduced this year, for technical innovation.
BBC Wales News, whose "pioneering use of the videophone gave
voters a fresh way of interacting" during the General Election,
took the BT Welsh Award for Technical Innovation.
Highly
commended was BBC Cymru’r Byd, the online Welsh-language newspaper,
whose introduction of two virtual newsreaders was "a great
team effort and a rip-roaring success", said judges.
Another
online service from BBC Wales took top marks as BTopenworld Welsh
Website Publication of the Year. BBC Wales News online, edited by
Amanda Powell, won the title for its "accessibility, variety
and sparkling writing". BBC Cymru’r Byd was also commended
for its "lively style of writing and imaginative use of Welsh
language and video".
BBC
journalists were also highly commended in the BTopenworld Welsh
Internet Journalist of the Year category. Robert Andrews, from BBC
News New Media, was praised for his work along with Manjiri Kulkarni,
now with BBC Wales radio news, for work submitted while she was
with the Western Mail.
In
the BT/Society of Editors Welsh Newcomer of the Year - The Rhian
Evans Award - Hywel Griffith from BBC Wales Today was highly commended
for "producing high quality work for someone so new to his
trade".
"It’s a fantastic performance by BBC Wales journalists,"
said Aled Eirug, Head of News And Current Affairs for BBC Wales.
"It shows the importance of our commitment to investigative
journalism."
John
Davies, BT Director Wales, presented the award winners with prize
money totalling almost £3,500 and prestigious trophies. All
the category winners, who each received the BT Trophy and a cheque
for £250, go forward to represent Wales in a UK-wide competition
at the BT Tower in London on 14 June.
The
runners-up each received a cheque for £50. The
other team award winners received the BT Trophy and a cheque for
£500 to be donated to a charity of their choice.
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