RTÉ among the winners at Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards, RTÉ Radio 1 winning Radio Station of the Year
The winners of the annual Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for excellence were announced yesterday evening in a special broadcast from Glasgow. The 2020 Celtic Media Festival was due to take place in Quimper, France, from the 4th-6th of June, but, in line with current restrictions, the event’s ceremonial centrepiece went virtual, as the coveted Torc Awards were announced live on the Celtic Media Festival Facebook page.
Comedian, writer and presenter Sanjeev Kohli, star of Still Game, was joined by Festival Director Catriona Logan and Festival Manager Naomi Wright, in Glasgow for the first-ever live streamed ceremony in the Festival’s 41 year history.
RTÉ’s searing analysis of the Irish greyhound industry took the award for best current affairs, while BBC Two’s Two Doors Down was named best comedy. TG4’s Finné Sophia Murphy won for best factual series, and RTÉ Radio 1 was named, for the first time since CMF 2008, as Radio Station of the Year.
The winner of the Drama Series category, Guilt, is the first drama commission of the new BBC Scotland channel and beat off big hitters, like past winner Line of Duty. The new BBC Scotland Channel had further success with their programme Jockey Wilson Says winning best Sports Documentary.
Stardust, a six-part podcast about the 1981 Stardust fire was the first podcast in Celtic Media Festival’s history to win best Radio Documentary.
In a brand-new category, Radio Drama, Near FM’s Petals won the coveted Torc, with judges proclaiming it one if the best things they’ve heard on radio in a very long time.
It was a particularly strong year for Celtic languages, with five winners in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, as well as strong representation for Breton, Welsh and Cornish. In a first for the event, the coveted Spirit of the Festival was won by Brittany, with France 3 Bretagne’s Yann-Fañch Kemener, Tremen En Ur Ganañ.
Celtic Media Festival Director Catriona Logan says: “The quality of the nominees and winners leaves us in no doubt as to the strength of the media sector across Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Galicia, Brittany and the Isle of Man, and the huge contribution our sector makes in defining who we are as individual nations. The Celtic Media Festival truly lets that individuality sing, but it also shows us much of what unites us. We look forward to sharing it all in person once again in 2021, as we prepare for Quimper and what will undoubtedly be our most eagerly awaited festival in years. Warmest congratulations to this year’s nominees and winners.”
For more visit www.celticmediafestival.co.uk
Category | Winner | Country | Company | Broadcaster |
Animation | Mémorable | BRITTANY | Vivement Lundi | |
Arts | Slán leis an gCeol | IRELAND | Rúnda Productions | RTÉ |
Children’s | The Girl at the End of the Garden | IRELAND | Dyehouse Films | |
Comedy | Two Doors Down | SCOTLAND | BBC Studios | BBC Two |
Current Affairs | Greyhounds, Running For Their Lives | IRELAND | RTÉ Investigations Unit | RTÉ |
Drama Series | Guilt | SCOTLAND | Happy Tramp North and Expectation | BBC Scotland and BBC Two |
Entertainment | Prosiect Pum Mil | WALES | Boom Cymru | S4C |
Factual Entertainment | Cân i Gymru: Dathlu’r 50 | WALES | Avanti | S4C |
Factual Series | Finné Sophia Murphy | IRELAND | Tua Films | TG4 |
History | 39-45, La Bretagne Sous l’Occupation | BRITTANY | Carrément à l’Ouest | Tébéo, TébéSud, TVR |
Radio Comedy | A Perforated Ulster | IRELAND | Hole In The Wall Productions | BBC Radio Ulster |
Radio Documentary | Stardust | IRELAND | TheJournal.ie | Podcast – Journal.ie |
Radio Drama | Petals | IRELAND | Near FM | Near FM |
Radio Magazine Show | Bladhaire | IRELAND | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta |
Radio Music | Sruth na Maoile | IRELAND | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta / BBC Radio nan Gàidheal | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta / BBC Radio nan Gàidheal |
Radio Presenter of the Year | Tudur Owen | WALES | BBC Radio Cymru | BBC Radio Cymru |
Radio Sport | Super G: How Geraint Won the Yellow Jersey | WALES | BBC Sport Wales | BBC Radio Wales & 5Live |
Radio Station of the Year | RTÉ Radio 1 | IRELAND | RTÉ Radio 1 | RTÉ |
Short Drama | Yn Mor | CORNWALL | Zoe Alker | |
Short Form | Tremble | SCOTLAND | Scottish Ballet/Hopscotch Films | |
Single Documentary | Nae Pasaran | SCOTLAND | Debasers Filums | BBC Scotland |
Single Drama | BAIT | CORNWALL | Early Day Films | |
Spirit of the Festival | Yann-Fañch Kemener, Tremen En Ur Ganañ | BRITTANY | France 3 Bretagne | France 3 Bretagne |
Sports Documentary | Jocky Wilson Said | SCOTLAND | BBC Scotland Multiplatform Productions | BBC Scotland & BBC One Scotland |