National Community Radio Awards Winners Revealed

Winners of the 2017 CBAA Community Radio Awards have been announced at a gala dinner held on the Gold Coast Saturday night, 11 November.

Hundreds of community broadcasters and sector leaders from across Australia gathered as winners were announced across 20 categories. The awards celebrate community broadcasting excellence and recognise the accomplishments of community radio services and the people behind them.

This year, the prestigious Tony Staley Award for Excellence in Community Broadcasting went to 4MBS Classic FM. 4MBS Classic FM’s mission is to use the classics to “entertain, educate, engage and employ”. Focusing on supporting local musicians, the station is known for recording and broadcasting 100 concerts annually, including the 4MBS Festival of Classics, which has been ongoing for 24 years. Australia's largest classical music festival, it employs only Queensland musicians, and this year, housed 500 musicians in 28 concerts across 15 venues. There are over 350 volunteers involved in the station's operation, covering a wide range of ages, backgrounds and skills, and all drawn together by their passion for classical music. 

The Michael Law Award for a sustained and outstanding contribution by an individual to community broadcasting was awarded to Ian Stanistreet. Having volunteered and worked in the sector for more than 35 years, Ian is strongly committed to the philosophy and values underpinning the community broadcasting sector. Ian was instrumental in establishing the sector’s National Radio News, which began as a joint venture between 2MCE and 2NUR. He was PBS 106.7FM’s first Station Manager in the 1980s, has sat on many sector boards, developed training for long-term unemployed people at 3BBB in the 1990s and managed 2MCE in Bathurst. Ian has led the team at the Community Broadcasting Foundation for the last 17 years, where he has helped to build and maintain the sector’s capacity, embracing emerging technologies and good governance.

Other CBAA Community Radio Award categories recognise achievements in everything from programming, to training, fundraising and technical services. A full list of winners is available below.

The CBAA’s Chief Executive Officer Jon Bisset said the awards are a fantastic insight into the incredible work happening in the community radio sector across the year.

“Community broadcasting is vital to the diversity, vitality and independence of Australia’s strong democracy, open society and vibrant culture and we are proud to support stations which broadcast to over 5.3 million people each week. The CBAA Community Radio Awards are an inspiring showcase of the hard work, dedication and forward-thinking of the sector’s staff and volunteers and the calibre of entries in this year’s awards was immensely high. We congratulate all finalists and winners, as well as thanking the 100 judges who assessed them.”

2017 CBAA Community Radio Award Winners

• Michael Law Award - Ian Stanistreet (VIC)

• Tony Staley Award - 4MBS Classic FM (QLD)

• Outstanding Small Station Award - Radio 2RDJ-FM 88.1 FM (NSW)

• Excellence in Community Participation - CHYFM (NSW)

• Outstanding Volunteer Contribution - Rosemary Penn, Vision Australia Radio – 5RPH (SA)

• Outstanding Youth Contribution - Dylan Storer, SYN Media (VIC)

• Excellence in Digital Media - Just Words, 2SER (NSW)

• Excellence in Training - Share the Load, Harvey Community Radio (WA) joint winner with PBS Access and Diversity Program, PBS 106.7FM (VIC)

• Best New Radio Program – Talks - The Alice Birth Project, 8CCC (NT)

• Best New Radio Program – Music - World Music Safari – Sounds From Other Lands, Phoenix FM (VIC)

• Best Station Production - Great Minds, FBi Radio (NSW)

• Contribution to Australian Music - Indigenous Beats, Noongar Radio (WA)

• Excellence in Indigenous Engagement - Noongar Radio (WA)

• Excellence in Ethnic and Multicultural Engagement - 3ZZZ (VIC)

• Excellence in Music Programming - Sisters Akousmatica, 3CR (VIC)

• Excellence in Spoken Word, News and Current Affairs Programming - Saturday Brisbane Line, 4ZZZ (QLD)

• Best Station Promotion or Fundraising Campaign - Triple R 40^th Birthday, Triple R (VIC)

• Most Innovative Outside Broadcast or Special Event Broadcast: Twang 20^th Birthday, Triple R (VIC)

• Troy Garner Excellence in Sports Programming - Chicks Talkin’ Footy, JOY 94.9 (VIC)

• Excellence in Technical Services - Shaun Dennis, 8EAR Gove FM (NT)

• National Features and Documentary Series - Kaarina Lindell, Triple R (VIC)

The 2017 CBAA Awards were presented with the support of Deutsche Welle, APRA AMCOS, PPCA, AFTRS, the Community Broadcasting Foundation and Pro Bono Australia.