Shiers Trust Award

The women won their fight, achieving parity with male floor managers, who were several pay grades above them.

Now, thanks to the 2023 Shiers Trust Award, Australian media historian Jeannine Baker will be able to undertake research on the strike and the early days of television in New Zealand.

Baker, the recipient of an award of £5,000, will use the money to pay for travel and her stay in Wellington for archival research and to conduct interviews with women who worked in New Zealand television during its first three decades, from 1960 to 1990.

The American-born Kuehl, who died in 2018, founded the production company Open Media with Cody. Along with many documentaries and entertainment shows, Open Media made the late-night, live discussion show After Dark, which aired first on Channel 4 and then on the BBC.

Kuehl had joined the BBC in 1963 as a historical adviser on the documentary series The Great War, later working on ITV’s landmark Second World War documentary, The World at War.