2012 AIBs Winners and Highly Commended

The Association for International Broadcasting announced the winners and highly commended entries of the 2012 AIBs, its annual global media excellence awards, at a gala event in London on 7 November 2012.

Scroll down to see the short-listed videos we showed at the awards gala.

The AIB Awards are unique in broadcasting because of their independence from commercial interests – an independent and international panel of judges consisting of respected professionals from the broadcasting and wider media industries selected the winners from entries submitted from all over the world.

Categories covered by the ‘AIBs’ include separate awards for radio and television, transmedia productions, as well as awards for innovation in technology. This year saw a special category for the best coverage of London 2012 and the introduction of an award for short documentaries.

Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO said:  ”The range of entries in this year’s AIBs was outstanding and our judges had a tremendously challenging time in evaluating and selecting the winners. We’ve seen broadcasters investigating hugely important issues both at home and abroad, excellent and courageous journalism, as well as superb coverage of sporting events, all demonstrating high production values. Overall, we’ve seen the best and worst of life portrayed in pictures and sound.”

Hosted by Evgenia Altfeld, presenter/producer at RTG TV in Russia, the event was attended by senior executives, producers and journalists from media organisations around the world, and featured Jessica Beinecke, producer OMG! Meiyu as special guest “in conversation”. The 2012 AIBs are sponsored by Eurosport and Russian Travel Guide TV.

The 2012 AIBs | Winners and highly commended finalists

Clearest live news coverage – TV 

Winner

France 24 for ‘TheTripoli Brigade’
     —“superbly engaging and capturing the real spirit of the moment”—

Highly commended
Antena 3 for ‘University Square Demonstrations’
     —“excellent ground work by camera crews; many, varied voices”—
Phoenix Satellite Television for ‘China’s Wenzhou Train Collision’
     —“comprehensive coverage with strong news sense”—

Clearest live news coverage – radio

Winner

BBC World Service for ‘Sudan Independence’
—“impressively told – offered insights into the birth of a country from the perspectives of children to officials”—

Highly commended
MBN Afia Darfur for ‘Kabkabiya Violence’
—“the importance of this story is immense – it took courage and understanding to produce”—
BBC Burmese for ‘Coverage of the 2012 Burmese By-Elections’
—“offered a glimpse insideBurmaat a time of rapid and unprecedented change”—

Best specialist programme

vimeo.com/57442813/

Winner

TV2 for ‘Dining with the Enemy’
—“grabs you from the start, this eclectic mix of the entertaining and deeply serious”—

Highly commended
BBC World News for ‘Collaboration Culture’
—“fun to watch, with great participants”—
RTG TV for ‘The Untouched Heart of the Urals’
—“intriguing, beautifully photographed; makes you realise there is so much more to this planet than you know”—

Best radio creative feature

Winner

BBC World Service for ‘Knitting in Tripoli’
—“intimate and extremely original story-telling layered with solid journalism; creatively provides human context to a tragic international event”—

Highly commended
Société Radio-Canada for ‘Tales of Objects – The Bra’
—” lively, amusing concept, funny and quirky”—

Best radio investigative documentary

Winner

RTE for ‘Maurice – a Final Journey’
—“so hard hitting that it became difficult to listen – but you had to – you were gripped; superb editing and brave narration by the protagonists”—

Highly commended
BFBS Radio for ‘Yuddha Ka Sarathi’
—“true war stories, engagingly told”—
ABC Radio for ‘Intellectually Disabled Fight for Justice’
—“makes a powerful case so that the issue could be addressed on a national level for the first time”—
Czech Radio for ‘Britons at Czechoslovakian Radio’
—“beautifully crafted with great use of archive material”—

Best domestic current affairs documentary
vimeo.com/57609066

Winner
NHK for ‘Fallout – The Last Days of Iitate Village’
—“a great film and an important document; in the whole chaos of events the film crew managed to film people with all their emotions – could hardly be done better, under the difficult circumstances”—

Highly commended
Antena 3 for ‘A Hell of a Living’
—“poignant and thought-provoking”—
CBS News for ’60 Minutes – Hard Times Generation’
—“an eye-opening tale”—

Best live sports coverage

Winner
Eurosport for ‘Roland Garros 2012’
—“innovative coverage, outstanding presentation that’s fast, informative, original”—

Highly commended
Nine Network for ‘State of Origin Game 3’
—“great commentary; imaginative way of telling stories around key players”—

Best coverage of London 2012

Winner
Sunset+Vine and IMG Media/Channel 4 for ‘Coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games’
—“innovative and ground-breaking programming – great on-screen graphics and great context”—

Most innovative production technology
Sponsored by EUROSPORT
vimeo.com/57524725/

Winner

Radio Taiwan International for ‘Mobile citizens broadcasting network’
—“a very imaginative, comprehensive solution to opening up TV reporting to citizens as well as expanding RTI’s professional capabilities”—

Best short documentary
vimeo.com/57526740/

Winner
e-News Channel for ‘The Story of Lucas Sithole’
—” moving production, with some unique shooting methods”—

Highly commended
Kansai Telecasting Corporation for ‘The Policeman Zookeeper’
—“an influential film – the character was very well developed”—
BBC Media Action for ‘Girl Hub – Tirunesh’
—“impressive – a simple narrative but a great contribution to changing harmful attitudes towards women and girls”—

Best investigative documentary – TV

Winner
Channel 4 for ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’
—“brings a truly shocking story to light through excellent and balanced journalism”—

Highly commended
BBC Arabic for ‘Jordan’s Secret Shame’
—“well crafted, investigated and contextualised”—
Radio FreeAsiafor ‘An Invisible World – The Lives of Slaves’
—“excellent series, telling previously hidden stories”—

Best radio current affairs documentary

Winner
BBC Arabic for ‘The Women ofTahrir Square’
—“powerful first person account of issues underlying the Egyptian struggle”—

Highly commended
Radio New Zealand for ‘Broken River’
—“highly engaging, with excellent production values – the bicycle is a great device”—
RFE/RL for ‘Solitary Confinement’
—“high levels of creativity and variety in the resources used”—

Best children’s factual

Winner
BBC Newsround for ‘My Autism and Me’
—“extraordinary, well crafted, with clever use of animation; 13-year-old Rosie invites us into her world in a way that is as far removed from patronising as it’s possible to get”—

Best transmedia production
vimeo.com/57589096/

Winner
Deutsche Welle for ‘Destination Europe’
—“first-rate multilingual, multi-platform approach, with extensive use of social media to provide real, relevant information to those seeking a better life in Europe”—

Best international current affairs documentary

Winner
TV2 for ‘The Price of War – The Hard Way Out’
—“excellent material filmed in the field, combined with great story-telling”—

Highly commended
France24 for ‘Colombia– Caught in the Crossfire’
—“reporting showed a great deal of engagement and overcoming immense personal risks”—
SVT for ‘Wikirebels’
—“a powerful story that gained through unprecedented access to the key players”—

Best science programme

Winner
Channel 4 for ‘Mummifying Alan –Egypt’s Secret’
—“what a fantastic documentary! Sympathetically and clearly told – intrigue and mystery blended with science and discovery; great education through powerful storytelling”—

Highly commended
WDR for ‘Gorillas of theCongo– Chainsaw to the Rescue’
—“effective use of video footage to demonstrate the complexity of human-animal interaction in environment”—
Société Radio-Canada for ‘The Sinking of the Costa Concordia’
—“high production values, gripping content, effective story-telling behind the scenes of a front-page story, a joy to watch”—

AIB Founders’ Award

Winner
Jessica Beinecke of OMG! Meiyu
—“impressive enthusiasm and digital expertise has ensured rapid viral success for this highly-innovative teaching programme”—

Radio personality of the year

Winner
Kim Hill, RadioNew Zealand
—“an experienced and warm broadcaster exercising full control of her content whilst coaxing her guests to reveal more of themselves; really enjoyable live and sparky content that demonstrates what is great about radio and illustrates how important lightness of touch is in speech content”—

TV personality of the year
Sponsored by RTG TV

Winner
Barkha Dutt, NDTV
—“a reporter of considerable stretch and depth, still passionate and fearless in bringing the issues closer to her viewers”—

 

The full press release listing the winners and highly commended entries can be downloaded here