Category: Wales
Date: 01.04.2006
Printable version
Welsh language station Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Cymru has carried off the prestigious Radio Station of the Year award at the international Celtic Film and Television Festival.
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The station recently recorded its highest share of radio listening in Wales since 1999 and it is by far the most popular radio station among Welsh speakers with one in three listening each week.
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The station also has a very loyal audience with the average Radio Cymru listener tuning in for a remarkable 14 hours each week.
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Aled Glynne Davies, Editor, Radio Cymru, said: "This prize is a tribute to the hard work of those who work on Radio Cymru's programmes, who work together to create such entertaining, accessible and popular programmes.
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"We're also moving with the times, with C2 - our evening service for young people - now being podcasted.
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"We are all feel very proud to receive this award."
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Radio Cymru's award caps a highly successful week for Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales at the festival in Cornwall.
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The television series Tribe took the Best Factual Documentary award; drama Kiddo gained the award for Best Young People's Programme; Colin & Cumberland - a project to introduce people to the Welsh language - won two separate awards; and Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Wales carried off the prize for Best Radio Documentary programme.
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The Celtic Film and Television Festival is a three-day annual international event that recognises quality, originality and achievement on screen and in broadcasting.
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Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales's success was achieved against competition from more than 50 broadcasters and media companies from Wales, Cornwall, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Brittany.
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Celtic Film & Television Festival - Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales awards
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Radio Station of the Year: Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Cymru
Radio Cymru saw a staggering 41 per cent increase in its number of listeners during 2005 with 182,000 tuning in every week. The station - which was launched in 1977 - broadcasts entirely in the Welsh language for 20 hours each day.
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Best Factual Television Documentary: Tribe - Suri, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales
The Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales series for Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ ONE saw explorer Bruce Parry spend a month living with each of the six remotest tribes in the world experiencing everything from poisonous initiations in Gabon to dinner with cannibals in Papua New Guinea. This programme featured Bruce sharing the lives and customs of the Suri people in Ethiopia's Omo Valley.
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Best Young People's Programme: Kiddo, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales/ Curlyman Productions
The brainchild of Tredegar Comprehensive School deputy headteacher Jeff O'Riley,
Kiddo - a 30-minute drama shot on location in Tredegar - was developed by, and starred, pupils from the school.
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Best Radio Documentary: It's Crazy Man, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Wales
Deke Leonard - guitarist with legendary Welsh band Man - charted the birth of rock 'n' roll in Wales and the strange trips and tall tales taken by the first wave of Welsh rockers.
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Best Education Programme: Colin & Cumberland, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales
This series of short animations spearheaded a brand new way of introducing the Welsh language on Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales television, radio and online.
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Best Website: Colin & Cumberland, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales
In a unique tripartite project developed by Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales, separate versions - in Welsh, Irish and Gaelic - offered an entertaining and humorous online introduction to the Celtic nations' indigenous languages.
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Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Wales Press Office
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