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BBC Radio Ulster wins three golds at IMRO awards

BBC John Toal in the centre wearing a green/blue velvet jacket smiles as he holds a gold microphone IMRO award. On one side a woman with brown hair in a black dress reaches over to touch the microphone, on the other side a man in a tuxedo does the sameBBC
Saturday with John Toal won Gold in the Magazine Programme category

BBC Radio Ulster has won three gold awards at the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) Awards 2024.

Chris Buckler won News Broadcaster of the Year while William Crawley won in the Speech Broadcaster of the Year - Full Service category.

For the second year running, Saturday with John Toal won gold for Magazine Programme of the Year.

The ceremony took place in Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland.

Chris Buckler in a padded grey jacket and grey knitted sweater. He has short brown hair.
Chris Buckler is one of the presenters of Good Morning Ulster

Kevin Kelly, head of news and current affairs at BBC News NI, said the awards were a fantastic recognition of the organisation's journalism.

"They are a superb testament to the dedication of everyone in radio news and current affairs who continually strive to provide high quality programmes and content for our audiences," he said.

"They should all rightly be very proud of what they have achieved in such a competitive field of radio broadcast teams."

The full list of BBC Northern Ireland winners was:

  • Gold for William Crawley in the Speech Broadcaster – Full Service category for BBC Radio Ulster
  • Gold for Saturday with John Toal in the Magazine Programme category
  • Gold for BBC Radio Ulster’s Chris Buckler in the News Broadcaster of the Year category
  • Silver for BBC Radio Ulster in the National Station Of The Year category
  • Bronze for BBC Radio Foyle’s Mark Patterson won Bronze in the Speech Broadcaster – Local/Regional category
  • Bronze for Alright, Pet? in the Specialist Speech Programme category
  • Silver for BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle for coverage of The Arrest Of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in the News Programme – Full Service category, and a bronze for coverage in the News Story/News Event category
  • Bronze for BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today for coverage of Mass Day of Strike Action in the News Programme - Local/Regional category.
  • Bronze for BBC Radio Ulster’s Classical Connections – Seamus Heaney Special in the Music Special/Music Event category
  • Silver for BBC Radio Ulster’s Stephen McCauley in the Specialist Music Broadcaster Of The Year category
  • Silver for Assume Nothing: The Handler – Six Months of Hell (Episode Two) in the Drama category
  • Silver for Europop – The Neil Hannon Show in the Specialist Music Programme category
  • Silver for Ón Taobhlíne OB ‘Live from GAA World Games in Derry’ in the Sports Story category
William Crawley, a man with dark hair and a short beard, wearing a lilac shirt and dark jacket
William Crawley hosts Talkback on BBC Radio Ulster

Emma Dunseith, senior head of content production at BBC Northern Ireland, said: “We are passionate about providing our audiences with programmes that reflect their lives and their interests and we work hard daily to deliver fresh, engaging and informative content.

"It’s great that our efforts have been recognised by our peers in this way, at the IMRO Awards.”

IMROs Hugo Duncan at the IMRO awards wearing a suit and holding his Hall of Fame Plaque, he is standing beside Carol Dooley (dressed in red with red glasses and dress) and Eddie Caffrey in a black suit.IMROs
Hugo Duncan, pictured alongside Carol Dooley and Eddie Caffrey, was added to IMROs Radio Awards Hall of Fame

BBC Radio Ulster's Hugo Duncan was also added into the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame.

Other winners include Newstalk as National Station of the Year and Red FM from Cork as Music Station of the Year.