The Royal Television Society East is thrilled to announce the nominees for the RTS East Programme Awards 2025.
The winners of the RTS East Programme Awards 2025 will be announced at our annual awards ceremony on Monday 30th June at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and be presented by BBC Look East presenter and reporter Mousumi Bakshi. We look forward to having over 100 industry professionals from around the East of England in a night of celebration.
In a competition across 15 categories, 36 entries were nominated after an extensive judging process, recognising the immense talent and innovation of production companies and individuals in the East of England. Our categories this year range from scripted, factual, craft and news to short form content and promotional work.
BBC and ITV lead the way this year with 6 nominations each, with a special shoutout to True Vision East, Ninja Theory and Kudos following closely by with 3 nominations each.
We are also excited to announce our newest addition to our roster of categories: Features and Entertainment. This new category represents work in the factual entertainment genre, as well as entertainment and reality formats. Current nominees for our new category include The Jury: Murder Trial, Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country, and Sexy Beasts: The Need to Breed.
As for our Scripted – Single or Series, we welcome a full list of first-time nominees. Norwich-based production company Trett Films are nominated for their short-film Dial, along with extra nominations in our Promotional Film category. Big Talk Studios in association with That Mitchell & Webb Company are nominated for their stand-out series this year, Ludwig. As well as Kudos for their long-running, Cambridge-based detective drama Grantchester which is also nominated for Craft – Cinematographer and Craft - Sound.
This year we have also had an unprecedented number of unscripted entries ranging across our three factual categories: Documentary, Specialist, and Features and Entertainment.
Building on the large number of nominations from the news outlets in the region, RTS East have introduced a new News Emerging Talent award, which includes first-time nominees Connor Bennett from BBC East and Lucy Benneworth from ITV News Anglia.
Dinah Lord, Chair of RTS East, said: ‘We’re tremendously excited to announce the nominations for this year’s RTS East Awards. We’ve had a record number of entries and have once again expanded our categories, and are thrilled that we will be showcasing the huge range of talent and creativity working in TV and film across the region. This year we’re delighted to have Essex Film Office & Hertfordshire Film Office as our Headline Event Sponsors, demonstrating the real commitment they have for the industry in our region and the support they are showing for its growth and development, while Essex Film office is also a category sponsor for Craft - Director, celebrating the exciting directing talent in the region. Anglia Ruskin University is once again encouraging the next generation of trailblazing film makers as a sponsor for the Short Form Digital category, and we’re welcoming Spotlight for the first time as a category sponsor to recognise the regions strength in Scripted - Single or Series. We’re looking forward to celebrating at our Awards ceremony on June 30th in Cambridge.’
Please see below our full list of nominees:
News Journalist of the Year
Nikki Fox, BBC East
Jon Ironmonger, BBC East
Rob Setchell, ITV News Anglia
News Story of the Year
Growing Up With Gangs, ITV News Anglia
Speechless, ITV News Anglia
Spotlight on SEND, ITV News Anglia
News Craft Talent
Ben Debuse, BBC East
Jonathan Stevens, ITV News Anglia
Jamie Niblock, BBC East
News Emerging Talent
Lucy Benneworth, ITV News Anglia
Connor Bennett, BBC East
Scripted - Single or Series – Sponsored by Spotlight
Grantchester, Kudos
Dial, Trett Films
Ludwig, Big Talk Studios in association with That Mitchell & Webb Company
Factual - Documentary
Football Cops, True Vision East
24 Hours in Police Custody, The Garden
Operation Hope, Emporium Productions Ltd
Factual - Specialist
Toughest Forces On Earth, Emporium Productions Ltd
The Jury: Murder Trial, ScreenDog Productions
Growing up Jewish, True Vision East
Short Form Digital – Sponsored by ARU
Beach Hut Six 2024 Reels Collection, Cut The Mustard Animation
Sugar Invaders, Box River Studios
A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies, The Blah Blah Company Ltd
Promotional Film
In Detail ... The Pub Bombings, BBC
On His Majesty's Secret Service - James Bond - Ian Fleming Publications, Trett Films
There's Always Time for Adnams, SubMotion Productions Ltd
Features and Entertainment
The Jury: Murder Trial, ScreenDog Productions
Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country, John Comerford, Rob Gill, Ash Burnham & Tom O'Brien
Sexy Beasts: The Need to Breed, Blue Pigeon Productions Limited
Craft - Cinematography
James Swift for Grantchester, Kudos
Tom Martin for NHS - The Pressure
Rosemary Baker for Growing up Jewish, True Vision East
Craft - Director - Sponsored by Essex Film Office
David Garcia Diaz, Mark Slater-Tunstill & Dan Attwell for Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Ninja Theory
Tom Green & Tommy Forbes for Me and the Voice in My Head, Hungry Bear Media
Richard Prendergast for Lighthouse Women’s Aid, SubMotion Productions Ltd
Craft - Editor
Howard Berry for Her Name Was Moviola, The Curators!
Matthew Lawes-Wickwar for Danielle Brandon Energy, R.A.D® Global
El Hakim for People in Shrouds, Anglia Ruskin University
Craft - Sound
Andrew Swallow for Dial, Hirundine Audio Limited
Caroline Singh for Grantchester, Kudos
Ninja Theory for Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Craft - VFX, SFX, and Games
Michael Illingworth, Laura Usaite, Pedrom Dadgostar & Ole Aleksander-Nordby for Paris Has Fallen, Vine FX
Ninja Theory for Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Thank you to our Event Sponsors Essex Film Office and Hertfordshire Film Office!
And thank you also to our Category Sponsors ARU, Spotlight and Essex Film Office!
