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Press Releases
Frank Gillard Awards celebrate the best of Ö÷²¥´óÐã local radio
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The Frank Gillard Awards 2007, the prestigious Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã began its local radio services, with Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Leicester broadcasting from November 1967, followed by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Sheffield, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Merseyside, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Stoke, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Nottingham, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Brighton, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Durham and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Leeds.
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The Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Director-General, Mark Thompson, will host the awards, with well–known alumni from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Local Radio – including:
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- Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Five Live presenters Jane Garvey and Simon Mayo;
- Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4's Moral Maze presenter Michael Buerk and From Our Own Correspondent's Kate Adie;
- Sports presenter Mary Rhodes;
- Ö÷²¥´óÐã One O'Clock News presenter Sophie Raworth;
- Politics Show anchor Jon Sopel;
- Ö÷²¥´óÐã Asian Network's Sonia Deol;
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– presenting miniature busts of the founder of Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã Local Radio over the past 40 years with no less than four Outstanding Contribution to Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã Trust, Alison Hastings.
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David Holdsworth, Acting Controller, Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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 Ö÷²¥´óÐã 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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