France 24, Sveriges Television, Al Jazeera and Ross Kemp were among the winners of the Media Excellence Awards held last night in London and presented by the Association for International Broadcasting.
International news channel France 24 took the AIB Editors’ Award for its multimedia approach that has seen its content delivered to mobile handsets, on the web and via email.
Sveriges Television emerged as the winner of the Most Creative Specialist Genre for interactive drama The Truth About Marika. The programme was part reality game and part drama with the audience never really sure if what they were watching was fact or fiction.
Sveriges Radio took the honours for the Most Creative Marketing Strategy for its recommendation engine design to attract audiences in the 15-25 age group.
Former soap actor Kemp has carved himself a second career as the presenter of hard-hitting documentaries that has previously seen his work recognised by BAFTA and the Broadcasting Press Guild. Kemp was named International TV Personality of the Year.
Most Innovative Technology was awarded to Link Research. The Prague Steps Project was able to bring live pictures from ‘inside’ a major cycling event from a sometimes difficult terrain for transmission on Czech television.
The AIB INSI Special Award went to Sami Al Haj, the Al Jazeera cameraman, who was arrested for alleged terrorism offences and kept without trial in Guantanamo Bay for more than seven years.
Complete list of Winners
Best radio current affairs documentary
Tinderbox Production – Where Next, A Soldier’s Journey
Best television current affairs documentary
Strix TV – Class of ‘07
Best investigative TV documentary
BBC Northern Ireland – The Pitbull Sting
Clearest radio coverage of a single news event
BBC World Service – The World Today: Chinese Party Congress
Clearest TV coverage of a single news even
SABC – Hambani Makwerekwere
Best creative TV feature
Rockhopper TV – A Sporting Chance
Best creative radio feature
BBC Portuguese for Africa – The Amazon Paradox
Best cross-media production
BBC World Service – Bangladesh Boat Project
Most innovative use of graphics powered by Vizrt
NFL Network – Games Graphics Package
Most creative marketing strategy powered by Russia Today TV
Sveriges Radio – The Programme Guide
Most innovative technology powered by Bloomberg Television
Link Research – The Prague Steps
Most creative specialist genre
SVT – The Truth About Marika
International TV personality of the year
Ross Kemp, Sky 1
International radio personality of the year
3FM
AIB Editors’ Award 2008
France 24
AIB INSI Special Award
Sami Al-Hajj
