Regional Media Oscars launch with three new categories for 2012

The search is under way to find the cream of regional journalism across North West England. And this year the O2 regional Media Awards will be even bigger and better, with the introduction of three new award categories.

Established in 2008, the O2 awards celebrate the work of regional journalists working on newspapers, in radio and television. This year the awards have been extended to recognise the work of journalists producing specialist publications, those working across digital and multi-media platforms, as well as the region’s up-and-coming media talent.

The O2 Media Awards have become the most popular and highly regarded regional awards event in the UK and each year attract hundreds of entries. For the fifth year running the competition will be free to enter. Finalists will also be invited to a glittering presentation evening which will also be free to attend. This year’s awards ceremony will take place at Lancashire Cricket Club on November 8.

Among the 16 categories there will be a special award for Outstanding Contribution to the media industry. Last year’s winner was former North West Tonight anchorman Gordon Burns.

Many of the most popular award categories remain, such as the Weekly and Daily newspapers of the year titles as well as Scoop of the Year and Editorial Team of the Year.

Journalists from TV, radio and newspapers will again go head to head in the News Reporter of the Year category while there will be separate awards for the region’s top radio and television reporters.

Entry portfolios for Photographer of the Year will this year be accepted by e-mail, one of a number of improvements introduced by O2 to make the awards even easier to enter. The criteria for each award are available with the official entry form.

Nicola Green, Director of Communications & Reputation at O2, said the three new categories had been introduced this year to reflect the changing nature of the media industry. “The multimedia journalism category recognises journalists using different skills to communicate with their audiences. Increasingly reporters are combining traditional and new media or combining both writing and broadcasting skills. The specialist publication award reflects the growth of niche publications, community newspapers and magazines and in-paper supplements.”

The Emerging Talent Award is open to college and university students in the North West studying media-related courses and looking to enter the industry. The award has the backing of the Press Association, ITV and Trinity Mirror Newspapers who have all offered work-shadowing placements to winning entrants.

Once again judges will comprise of experts from the media industry and include working journalists, editors and publishers.

O2 launched its Media Awards to celebrate the role of regional journalism in communities across the North West. The awards have become so popular that O2 now hosts a similar awards event in Yorkshire and The Humber. O2 employs around 3,500 people at its award-winning customer service centres in Preston Brook, Cheshire and Bury, Greater Manchester as well as its retail stores.

Nicola added: “2012 has been a wonderful year for Great Britain and we hope the Media Awards event will be memorable for all those associated with journalism across the North West region. Every year the number of entries grows and we hope that this year will be another record breaker.”

The deadline for entry nominations is September 18.

Journalists will be able to enter the following categories:
• Multimedia Journalist of the Year
• Photographer of the Year
• Feature Writer of the Year
• Sports Journalist of the Year
• Young Journalist of the Year
• TV Broadcast Journalist of the Year
• Radio Broadcaster of the Year
• News Reporter of the Year
• Business Journalist of the Year
• Scoop of the Year
• Editorial Team of the Year
• Emerging Talent Awards
• Specialist Publication of the Year
• Weekly Newspaper of the Year
• Daily Newspaper of the Year
• Outstanding Contribution Award

Entry forms are available by contacting Rossiter Media on 01925 576757 or by e-mail request to O2mediaawards@rossitermedia.co.uk

For more information contact:

Ann McCracken
O2
t:07850 708009
m:07850 708009
e: ann.mccracken@o2.com

O2 Press Office
O2
t:01753565656
e: pressoffice@o2.com

About O2 in the UK
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team. Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.

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