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Press Releases
Frank Gillard Awards celebrate the best of ´óÏó´«Ã½ local radio
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The Frank Gillard Awards 2007, the prestigious ´óÏó´«Ã½ awards honouring achievement in local radio, are launched today, Tuesday 3 April.
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This, the eighth year the awards have been held, will also mark a milestone in radio history – it is 40 years since the ´óÏó´«Ã½ began its local radio services, with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Leicester broadcasting from November 1967, followed by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Sheffield, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Merseyside, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Stoke, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Nottingham, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Brighton, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Durham and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Leeds.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Director-General, Mark Thompson, will host the awards, with well–known alumni from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Local Radio – including:
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- ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Five Live presenters Jane Garvey and Simon Mayo;
- ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4's Moral Maze presenter Michael Buerk and From Our Own Correspondent's Kate Adie;
- Sports presenter Mary Rhodes;
- ´óÏó´«Ã½ One O'Clock News presenter Sophie Raworth;
- Politics Show anchor Jon Sopel;
- ´óÏó´«Ã½ Asian Network's Sonia Deol;
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– presenting miniature busts of the founder of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Local Radio, Frank Gillard, to the winners.
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And Stephen Powell, best known for his staging of the Manchester Passion last year, has devised an affectionate celebration of the spirit of local radio as a preface to the award ceremony, to be held in Birmingham's newly refurbished Town Hall in November.
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This year's Gillard categories have been refined to reflect the need to recognise the achievements of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Local Radio over the past 40 years with no less than four Outstanding Contribution to ´óÏó´«Ã½ local radio awards to be made.
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The other categories, which are for work over the year to June 2007, are:
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- Best Breakfast Programme;
- Programme Presenter;
- Original Journalism;
- Interactivity;
- Sports Coverage;
- Religious Programming;
- Outside Broadcast;
- Diversity;
- Station Sound;
- Station Of The Year (won by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Manchester last year).
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Thirty judges have been recruited from the top echelons of local radio alumni and media heavyweights.
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These include: John Inverdale, Adrian Chiles, Vijay Sharma, Lorna Clarke, Richard Bilton, Director of the Radio Academy Trevor Dann, and member of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trust, Alison Hastings.
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David Holdsworth, Acting Controller, ´óÏó´«Ã½ English Regions, says, "These awards reflect the rich and varied way that local radio serves local communities across the country, but this year's event will be particularly special as we celebrate 40 years of what Frank Gillard set up as 'the people's radio'."
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All ´óÏó´«Ã½ local radio stations and services in England are invited to enter the awards, which are highly regarded within the radio industry.
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The awards are named in honour of the founder of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Local Radio in England, Frank Gillard, who died in 1998.
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The deadline for entries is Friday 13 July 2007.
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JW
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