The shortlist for the 2021 Community Radio Awards has been revealed. Vectis Radio has been nominated for the Station of the Year award. It’s the first time for a nomination in this category in the station’s almost four-year FM history.
Returning to an in-person event, this year the awards take place in Coventry, in partnership with Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.
Across a wide variety of specialisms and topics, a shortlisting in the awards is recognition of a commitment to community, craft and causes.
Steers: Tough choices to make
Awards chair, Martin Steers, said,
“The breadth and depth of entries never ceases to amaze, and yet again our judging panel from across the industry has had some tough choices to make.”
There were five more nominations, one of these, in the Community Development category, and another in the innovation category were for the Vectis Radio 4Ps radio training school.
Gillespie: Extremely proud to support the work of Vectis Radio’s 4Ps training school
Rob Gillespie, Chair of the Isle of Wight Foundation, a charitable trust supported by the partners in Island Roads said,
“We have been extremely proud to support the work of Vectis Radio’s 4Ps training school in helping young people to improve their life chances by building their confidence and communication skills.
“They are extremely deserving of these award nominations and we wish them every success at the awards event.”
Adult Learning nomination
Another nomination, in the innovation category, was for . Rob Brindley Adult Learning Service Manager said,
“We are pleased to support Vectis Radio in offering the 4P’s programme to older adults.
“Participants gained a full experience of operations at a radio station and Vectis Radio is truly a station for the community.”
Sage Person of the year
In addition, Kelvin Currie has been nominated for Sage Person of the year. Kelvin said,
“Being nominated for the Sage Award is a great honour. One of my greatest pleasures is passing on my skills to others and seeing them develop confidence.
“Even better is seeing them pass that experience on to others behind them.
“That’s how Vectis Radio works, and it is fantastic that I, and the station, have been recognised for this.”
Live Event or Outside Broadcast of the Year
Finally, the outside broadcast nominated in the Live Event or Outside Broadcast of the Year category was a live Carol Concert from the car park of the large Tesco store in Ryde last December.
Broadcast to the Island and receivable by those in their cars at the concert, the organiser Pastor Oli Tucker of Grace Church IW said,
“With lockdown imminent, a group of churches and Vectis radio found a way to celebrate the Christmas story. In the middle of a supermarket car park, 150 cars gathered and radios tuned in to hear the age-old story of God coming into his world.
“We sang ‘Hark the Herald’ and we honked our horns to ‘Hosanna in Excelsis!’ 2020 may not have had the Isle of Wight festival, but Christ and his Christmas brought light and life to the Island-and all through our radios! We are thrilled with this nomination.”
Mac: Blown away by the amazing news
Station Manager, Ian Mac, said,
“Firstly Kelvin’s nomination is so well deserved, I am blown away by the Station of the year nomination and the 4ps Radio training school to be nominated for the fourth year in a row is amazing and means that we must be getting something right. Building confidence and communication skills in young people using the main ingredients of radio.
“Also, massive thanks to the Isle of Wight Foundation and the Isle of Wight Council for supporting us with the funds so that we can make a huge difference to young people in our community. Being nominated in the two top awards Station of the year and Community Development is something that we are very proud of and testament to the young people involved.”
News shared by Kelvin on behalf of Vectis Radio. Ed
Image: Alexandr Podvalny under CC BY 2.0
