The awards recognise creative and excellent journalism for both news and current affairs.
The awards, which are given out in a glittering ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane, include categories for Television Journalist of the Year, Scoop of the Year, Network Presenter and Young Talent.
Booking is now open for the black tie ceremony, which includes a three course meal ahead of the presentation.
The 2016 Awards will be presented at the London Hilton, Park Lane on 17 February by 5 News Tonight presenter Matt Barbet.
The awards for news and current affairs recognise excellent journalism by UK news organisations. This years' categories include News Channel, Scoop and Journalist of the Year.
The awards celebrated talent across 19 categories in total, and this year the BBC led the way with ten wins spanning both news and current affairs, followed by Sky News with five wins overall. The winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award was Christiane Amanpour, who as a global figure in English speaking broadcast journalism has spent over four decades covering major conflicts and campaigning for media freedom and the safety of journalists.
The BBC leads the way with 28 nominations overall across 17 of the 19 categories, followed by ITV with 10 nominations.
The prestigious awards will be presented at a ceremony hosted by Sky News presenter Anna Botting on the 26th February 2020 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.
The awards, which span both news and current affairs, seek to recognise creative and excellent journalism by organisations whose broadcasts are transmitted on a UK-based platform, or who create online video content from a UK production base.
Nawal's impressive journalism career started when she travelled back home to Yemen after completing a degree in Economics with Politics at the University of Nottingham. Back in Yemen, she began to make her own videos about the Arab Spring.
“I love this business” beams Harry Gration. “I’ve been to nine Olympic Games. I’ve been all around the world to cover BBC Sport.”
Gration is one of the old campaigners, with almost 40 years of broadcasting under his belt.
“I never really envisaged that I’d end up presenting a television programme as I do every night. It happened as a dream and it has turned into a reality.”
The RTS award win is Gration’s second in the category, having won first in 2015. “It’s beyond expectation to be honest. You tend to get these once in a lifetime.”
“I’d been at my dad’s paper since I could walk,” ITV Calendar’s Duncan Wood recalls. “I was smelling the ink, seeing the presses rolling…”
It’s a nostalgic image, and one that drove Wood into journalism.
After flunking both his O-Levels and A-Levels, he got a job at his dad’s paper, the Sunderland Echo.
“My dad hated journalists,” he laughs. “He went from office boy to Managing Director. He hated them with a passion.”
Stewart White is a regular at the RTS Television Journalism Awards having won the Regional Presenter of the Year in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
He is nominated once again for his work presenting BBC Look East. “It’s nice that the viewers who watch Look East know that it’s a well-regarded programme” he reflects.
The key to the success of the programme, he believes, is knowing the audience. “We cover stories which really matter to people who live in the region.”
Channel 4 News’ Matt Frei will battle it out with ITV News at Ten’s Julie Etchingham and BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire for the title of Network Presenter of the Year, while Al Jazeera English, BBC News Channel and Sky News are in the running for the News Channel of the Year Award. Matt Frei is also nominated for the Television Journalist of the Year Award alongside CNN International’s Nima Elbagir and Sky News’ Alex Crawford. Channel 4 News, BBC News at Ten and Sky News at Five are nominated for the Daily News Programme of the Year Award.
