Thursday 14-11-2019 - 17:14

It’s a well-known fact that our student groups are some of the best in the country. Over the last few years they have had a lot of national success, even when competing against larger universities. Our media groups in particular have had a great couple of years with Palatinate winning Publication of the Year in 2018, and now Purple Radio winning two national awards.

 

Every year the Student Radio Association holds an awards ceremony, and any member station can submit applications for awards in a number of categories. Purple Radio put two applications in this year: one for Best Journalistic Programming for ‘The Housing Crisis Investigation,’ and another for Best Sports Programming for ‘Sportsfeed’.

 

The successful nominations were announced at this year’s Regional Training Day, which Durham SU and Purple Radio were lucky enough to host. I was so excited to find out that Purple Radio were successfully nominated for both the categories they entered!

 

Following this announcement, Purple Radio were invited to the O2 Arena in London for an incredible awards evening hosted by BBC Radio and Global. I was lucky enough to join Purple Radio and experience the excitement – it was obvious that a lot of thought and effort had gone into the event. Some of the best in radio, including Scott Mills, Steffan Powell, Rosie Hastie and Will Manning, were there!

 

Purple Radio won a gold award for Best Journalistic Programming by Rosie Hastie and Steffan Powell, and a silver award for Best Sports Programming, beating many universities that have journalism and radio degrees. This is a huge achievement – it’s competitive to even get nominated, never mind win!

 

Naomi Clarke, Head of News for the housing crisis investigation, said, “I am in shock. I started this project because there was a real need for someone to speak out about the housing crisis in Durham. Things need to change. People should not be flying 300 miles from their year abroad to come and wait outside estate agents offices to sign a house.”

 

Station Manager Adrian Waddelove, who was also Head of Sport for ‘Sportsfeed’, said, “I feel fantastic! These awards are an accumulation of a lot of hard work by a lot of people. Excited to see what else we can do this year.”

 

I am really proud of what they have achieved. The station has worked so hard over the last year and have made some incredible content, even with the limitations of their equipment. I’m determined to make sure our media groups receive the funding they need to keep up with advances in the media landscape. Award-winning groups deserve equipment that matches their talent – imagine what Purple Radio could achieve with the most up-to-date technology!

 

Purple Radio are so dedicated and have worked incredibly hard to achieve this. We should all be very proud of them. Congratulations and I can’t wait to see what you get up to this year!

 

See the full winners list here and find out more about Purple Radio here.