RTS Launches Scotland Awards 2014

The Royal Television Society (RTS) has launched the RTS Scotland Awards 2014.

This year will see the introduction of three new categories to the production awards: Referendum Programme, Short Form Content and Animation.



Production Awards

Production awards include the following categories:

Category 1: Factual

a. Documentary and Specialist Factual
This category includes documentaries and specialist factual programmes including arts, history, science, natural history and the environment.

b. Factual Entertainment & Features
Features programmes including magazine shows, fashion, cookery, travel, property and other popular formatted programmes.

c. Daytime
This category recognises the demands of producing high quality factual programming on daytime budgets. Daytime programmes are those transmitted before 6pm.

Category 2: Drama

This award is for fiction or other narrative drama, including docu-drama and online. The judges welcome both broadcast and non–broadcast entries.

Category 3: Referendum Programme

This award is for the best programme which engages with the independence referendum. Complete programmes must be submitted and can be from any genre or category.

Category 4: News and Current Affairs

a. News Programme
This award is for the best television news programme in Scotland. The award is intended to recognise every aspect of television news including speed of reaction to breaking news and the depth and quality of coverage.

b. Current Affairs
This award is for documentary and discussion programmes which investigate, explain or analyse current events.

c. Scoop of the Year
This award is presented for the best exclusive, off diary news (including sports) and/or current affairs story - an outstanding 'Scoop'.

Category 5: Sport

a. Live Event
The submitted entry should be a 30 minute compilation of the coverage as transmitted. The entries will be judged on the quality of the coverage, not on the importance or excitement of the event.

b. Sport programme
The award will recognise production and editorial values in actuality sports programming – event coverage/live or recorded, strand or individual programme.

Category 6: Comedy

This award category is for a wide range of comedy programmes whose common aim is to make the audience laugh. This could include panel shows, chat shows, game shows, situation comedies, comedy dramas and sketch shows.

Category 7: Children's

This category includes children's drama, comedy, factual, entertainment and animation programmes.

Category 8: Short Form Content

This category is designed to recognise excellence in the production of short form television content and the specialist skills required therein. Judges will consider any content shorter than five minutes duration.

Category 9: Animation

This category recognises professional excellence in the field of animation.

Category 10: Student Television Award

Student Television Awards were made in January in the following categories; animation, entertainment, factual and fiction. An overall winner will be chosen.

Portfolio Awards: - These categories celebrate professional excellence.

Category 11: Television Journalist of the Year

This category is open to all television and video web journalists working in news, current affairs, features and sport.

Category 12: Professional Excellence (Craft)

a. Professional Excellence: Camera

For Professional Excellence in all elements of camera work, including sound capture where relevant in single camera operations. Portfolios can encompass both broadcast and non-broadcast work.

b. Professional Excellence: Sound

This category recognises professional excellence in sound across all television output. This award could recognise the work of one individual or the work of the whole sound team.

c. Professional Excellence: Post production: Editing

This category recognises professional excellence in post-production and is open to all aspects of editing, pictures and sound.

d. Professional Excellence: Post production: Graphics & Titling

This category recognises professional excellence in post-production and is open to all aspects of graphics and titling.

The Innovation Award

This award is designed to celebrate the use of technology in an expanding and changing world reaching out to new communities of users and new, often interactive, ways of communicating using video and text. It is about the use of technology in the production process and the award honours the best in second screen, multi-screen, interactive, online and connected TV content, mobile content and games.

The RTS Scotland Award

The industry award is for the outstanding contribution to television in Scotland. This could apply to any aspect of the industry, broadcasting, production or technical sectors in Scotland and beyond with a particular focus on the past 12 months (January to December 2014). Nominations are not required and the decision will be ratified by the RTS Scotland Committee.

April Chamberlain, Chair of the RTS Scotland Awards, says: "2014 has been an incredibly significant year for Scotland. There have been many major opportunities and challenges for programme makers and this has been reflected in the range, quality and diversity of programmes that have been produced here. The aim of the RTS Scotland Awards is to recognise and celebrate the people, productions, broadcasters and companies who have made these programmes."

The closing date for entries is Thursday 12 February 2015. All entries must have been aired on TV, distributed for non-broadcast or streamed online for the first time between January and December 2014. The Awards will be presented at the Oran Mor, Glasgow in May 2015.

rts.org.uk/awards-scotland

(IT/JP)