TV Journalism Award Winners Revealed

Britain's leading forum for television and related media, the Royal Television Society (RTS), has announced the winners of its 2008/2009 Television Journalism Awards.
Taking place at a ceremony held in London, it was hosted by BBC newsreader, Sophie Raworth.
The Television Journalism Awards celebrates creative and excellent journalism in UK news and current affairs, both by organisations broadcasting in the UK and by companies which supply UK news broadcasters.
The BBC picked up seven awards on the night. BBC South West collected the ‘Nations and Regions Current Affairs’ prize for its Inside Out South West special on Vanessa George, while BBC Current Affairs’ Panorama: What Happened to Baby P? was given the ‘Current Affairs (Home) Award’.
It also collected the ‘Current Affairs (International) Award’ for This World: Gypsy Child Thieves. ‘Scoop of the Year’ went to BBC Scotland for Release of the Lockerbie Bomber.
Panorama’s Tamanna Rahman was named ‘Young Journalist of the Year’ – the judges commented: "The winner helped produce some of the most gripping television of the year, bravely exposing a side of Britain we don’t often get to see. Her raw and simple style was both innovative and powerful." Paul Kenyon was also awarded the ‘Specialist Journalist’ prize for his work on the programme.
‘News Programme of the Year’ went to the BBC News at Ten. The judges said, "the winner demonstrated reporting strength in great depth, both at home and abroad with several specialists clearly at the top of their game."
Sky News picked up the award for ‘News Channel of the Year’, beating off competition from Al Jazeera English and CNN International – the judges said "the winning channel demonstrated that it can report foreign news as well as its traditional fare of UK breaking news."
The channel was also awarded the prize for ‘News Coverage (International)’ for its Pakistan: Terror’s Frontline report, while Sky News’ Alex Crawford was named ‘Television Journalist of the Year’. Sky News and Skynews.com collected the ‘Innovative News’ Award for Fallen Heroes.
ITV News’ Julie Etchingham was named ‘Presenter of the Year’ – she was described by the judges as "strong and professional with range and authority, an extraordinary journalist with real star quality." Meridian Tonight (South) collected the ‘Nations and Regions News Coverage’ Award for its Justice for Hannah report.
‘The Independent Award’, launched this year, went to Mehran Bozorginia for the Channel 4 News report Afghan Life Crumbles Despite Foreign Aid. Dai Baker collected the ‘Camera Operator of the Year’ Award for his work at ITN for Channel 4 News. ITN was also awarded the prize for ‘News Coverage (Home)’ for its G20 Policing report for Channel 4 News.
Peter McHugh was given a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ Award by the judges, who said "[This Award] goes to a man who has kept the flag of popular journalism flying high, first in print and for the last few decades in television, with remarkable success."
The Judges’ Award went to Gaza News Teams – "a group of people who risked their lives to ensure that the world could witness a war that would otherwise have unfolded largely in secret."
(BMcN/BMcC)