A number of public radio broadcasters won awards at last week’s New York Film Festival Radio Awards – a competition that celebrates the quality, creativity and innovation of radio stations worldwide.

High quality programmes and skilled presenters put public radio at the forefront of radio and audio innovation. Here we highlight just three of the many public broadcasters that were awarded at this year’s esteemed event.

Radio New Zealand (RNZ)

With programmes such as Public Enemy and with the broadcaster’s coverage of the Kaikōura Earthquake, the Radio New Zealand won three gold, four silver and three bronze awards.

The podcast series Public Enemy won a gold award in the Current Affairs category. Produced by Mohamed Hassan, the series offers an insight into the life of Muslim communities in Australia, New Zealand, and the US, and how the current social environment, the recent elections, terrorism, war and xenophobia have influenced their lives since 9/11.

Kim Hill, host of the programme Saturday Morning, which features in-depth interviews on current affairs with topics ranging from modern life and history to arts and culture, won another gold award for Best Radio Personality.

Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose won a silver medal for their work on MediaWatch, through which RNZ critically analyses the country’s media landscape. Another silver award went to Adrian Hollday and Tim Dodd for their recording of Otello.

John Campbell, host of Checkpoint won a bronze award for Best News Anchor, as to did RNZ’s coverage of the Kaikōura Earthquake, which provided essential and lifesaving information to communities during and in the aftermath of the earthquake.

RTÉ

Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster RTÉ scored highly at the awards, winning Broadcaster of the Year for the fourth time in recent years, alongside 43 other awards and medals.

“This is extremely important to us as a public service broadcaster,” said Jim Jennings, Managing Director of RTÉ Radio. “From the excellent Documentary on One series, the imagination of RTÉJr Radio, the skilled current affairs reporting, the creative hub of Drama on One, to the innovation of podcast series Voices, RTÉ programme makers have been duly recognised with the awarding of a selection of gold, silver and bronze medals.”

CBC Radio

Canada’s public radio was also recognised for its work, winning a total of 18 medals for its documentaries and podcasts. The programme Ideas, conducted by Paul Kennedy, was the most prized. The show, which covers social issues, geopolitics, arts, science, technologies and humanities, won a total of four medals – three of which were gold.

As the categories and awards were designed to reflect emerging trends and creative innovations within the radio broadcasting field, these public radio stations clearly demonstrated their commitment to reflecting those values while providing great quality content and highly valued information to its listeners.

Header image: New York City. Credits: Sam Valadi/Creative Commons