Sony Radio Academy Awards 2013 - changed categories
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James Cridland posted on Friday 14th December 2012 at 22:06There are a few changed categories for 2013’s Sony Radio Academy Awards.
The “internet programme” category has disappeared. Good idea, in my view. Internet broadcasters, including podcasters, can enter almost every category anyway; and I’m supportive of the removal of ‘internet programme’ – its existence was a tacit admission that stuff on the internet isn’t as good as “proper” radio. There’s a bunch of stuff online that sounds just as good as broadcast radio, and they can – and should – play in the same field as everyone else. Just as the future of radio is multi-platform, so we shouldn’t be making allowances for one platform over another.
The best use of multiplatform rubric has been clarified to make it clear that, just like the other awards, this is an award for outstanding audio. iPhone apps or Facebook pages really don’t belong in here – there are plenty of awards for that elsewhere. Again, this seems a great idea.
The new award categories look tighter and more relevant than ever. Will you be entering?
While I agree with you James re multiplatform future, I don’t see internet-only content as really having a level playing field with commercial/BBC radio. We’d planned to enter the six-hour Radio Today Live webcast we did from the 2012 Sony Awards in the ‘internet programme’ category for 2013. The only other place now for it to go is Live Event Coverage, but with the high calibre of entries likely for Jubilee and Olympics related events (where both the BBC and many commercial radio stations excelled themselves) you have to wonder whether there’s any point paying the entry fee and spending time polishing the entry…
<a href="https://twitter.com/jamescridland">jamescridland</a> agree on Sony observations. Podcasts ARE radio essentially. People don't seem to understand that sometimes <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23medianews">#medianews</a></p>— David Spencer (themediamentor) December 14, 2012
Stuart – I’m afraid that probably means that it isn’t award-winning material.
Not sure why a platform choice merits a special award. Would it have been better if it were being broadcast on 5-Live? (I think it would; therefore answering the question of whether it’s award-winning).
James, if you follow that reasoning through, you’d just have one Best Station category and pit Moray Firth against Radio 4.
I think the Internet-audio sector is one we should encourage.
It would have been better if it was broadcast on 5 live – because it would have had a budget and paid staff rather than pretty much no budget at all and a team of volunteers.
Stuart – well, there we are, then. So I don’t quite understand why you wish to reward output that wasn’t as good as it could have been. That isn’t the Sony’s place. (That’s not knocking a great programme – I listened to half of it). Community radio runs off volunteers too; and considerable money is spent on the podcasts of some organisations (the Guardian’s science podcasts beat much of Radio 4). I don’t think the split by platform is relevant in this case.
James, if you follow that reasoning through, you’d just have one Best Station category and pit Moray Firth against Radio 4.
No, because that isn’t a pointless split by platform.
It comes down to whether the Sony Awards are there to celebrate excellence, or to encourage new entrants. I find it difficult to give a Sony for a programme that could have fitted into a proper category but wasn’t good enough to win there. That is rather difficult to endorse.
That’s all a bit harsh James.
I’m not really a fan of industry awards, but…
Why shouldn’t different platforms have their own specialised categories?.. Stuart’s live coverage of a radio event is of little or no interest to anybody outside of the industry…but the coverage that he has given it using a ‘new technology platform’ has made it available to those people who do have a passing interest – something that no radio station could ever justify doing.
The place for coverage of niche events is the internet – it’s not Stuart’s problem that the amount of competition is probably limited.
And with your experience you should know that some categories (such as live events and breaking news) tend to be won by the stations who are in the TSA where events have happened (Raoul Moat, Suffolk Murders etc.) This will be a strong year for the BBC as the biggest events (barring the weather recently) have been on a national scale…Jubilee and Olympics.
Just my two-penneth…but I think you’re being pretty harsh.
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I’m glad they have done this too. I would agree that many of the podcasts coming out of the US and UK sound fantastic. Earshot Creative Review deserves to be considered for an award… not only for its contribution to great production, but what it’s doing to stimulate on-air talent.