The nominations for this year’s UK Audio & Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) by charity organisation Radio Academy have been announced.
‘Slow-news’ publication Tortoise Media, which has taken on an audio-first approach across the brand, was nominated for a number of categories including Best News Coverage for the The Slow Newscast and Sensemaker podcasts, Best Factual Single Programme for A Finding of Rape, and the 2022 Special Award recognising the best coverage of the Queen’s death for The Second Elizabethan Age.
Additionally, children’s radio and podcast network Fun Kids gained big recognition this year with five nominations, including Best Music Entertainment Show for My Life, the podcast that gives insight into children’s lives across the UK, Best Drama for storytelling podcast In the Beginning…, The Creative Innovation Award and Radio Times Moment of the Year for radio programme Fun Kids Mission Transmission, and UK Station or Network of the Year.
“It's always great to get recognition! Fun Kids has a small team who work very hard to do something different – create great kids content live and on-demand,” said Matt Deegan, Fun Kids station manager and British Podcast Awards co-founder. “To get five nominations is a testament to their hard work, especially scooping one for station of the year.
“One of our competitors in that category is Radio 4, whose content budget is around 500 times our own! I'm also pleased that two of the nominated shows, My Life and In The Beginning, are also still available as podcasts for people to listen to as well.”
In November 2022, the Radio Academy announced that it would be embracing the independent audio sector more by providing three guaranteed nominations for independents in each of more than half the categories for this year. Previously, it only allowed nominations from two pools per category – three nominations from the BBC for Pool A and three nominations from commercial, community or other radio stations for Pool B.
Independent creators and podcasts that have been nominated in this year’s ARIAS include Bathscape Footprints Podcast for Best Local Show and The Grassroots Award, sports podcast High Performance for The Impact Award, and Folk on Foot for Best Specialist Music Show.
This year’s ceremony will take place on 2 May at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London and will be hosted by BBC Radio 2’s Rylan Clark-Neal and feature a live voiceover from Hits Radio’s Fleur East, who previously hosted the event. Tickets are available for sale on the website starting from today.
“I'm so excited to be hosting the ARIAS again this year! Radio is a big part of my life and I know from doing my own show, it's a big part of people's lives around the country too,” said Clark-Neal. “From car rides to listening while doing the dishes at home, radio and podcasts allow you to be a part of people's day, and for that reason, I love them. I want to wish a big congratulations to all the nominees today and I look forward to revealing all the winners on 2 May."
