HBS Broadcast Academy shortlisted for an IBC Social Impact Award

IBC has announced the shortlist for its Social Impact Awards, with HBS Broadcast Academy set to battle it out with the BBC and Turkish Broadcaster TRT for the Diversity and Inclusivity Award.

The Social Impact Awards will recognise three areas: initiatives focused on diversity and inclusivity; on minimising environmental impact; and for the best ethical leadership.

One winner from each category will be announced at the IBC Awards ceremony.

“The decision facing us as judges was tremendously hard. The quality of the entries was exceptionally high, and all the initiatives submitted have real purpose,” said Ade Rawcliffe, Head of Diversity for ITV Commissioning and chair of the Social Impact Award Judging Panel.

“This reflects what’s going on in the industry worldwide,” she added. “There is a real shift, a positive drive to not just create and deliver great content, but to do it with the best people from the widest range of backgrounds, with real audience engagement, and with the smallest possible environmental footprint.”

The nominations are:

Diversity and Inclusivity

• Flex, A BBC cultural transformation to introduce a new flexible working policy, supporting career progression for women and men. As of July 2019, 80% of BBC vacancies have been advertised with flexible working, both in the UK and globally
• Broadcast Academy, which provides a practical environment to develop technical and operational skills, with a particular emphasis on creating a diverse and multicultural talent pool and increasing the number of women in sports broadcasting. Broadcast Academy is part of HBS, a company that specialises in the host broadcasting of sports events
• Journalism for Juniors, an initiative from Turkish broadcaster TRT which teaches disadvantaged young people and refugee children – in Turkey and overseas – how to tell their stories through the medium of journalism, not just to encourage them to make it their career but to understand the importance of trusted information

Environmental Impact

• VoxA Omnichannel Engagement Platform, an advanced and extensive emergency alert and advisory platform for half a billion Indians living in India’s coastal communities, developed by Gaian Solutions for the Government of India, Ministry of Earth Sciences
• Liquid Technology, a leader in the recycling of electronic equipment, eliminating the risk of harmful materials like cadmium, lead and rare earth metals finding their way into landfill

Ethical Leadership

• An immersive, virtual reality experience to put you in the shoes of a drunk driver and experience its agonising consequences – created by BBDO DUBLIN and Inition for the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA)
• Combining green filmmaking and creative flair Chouette Films, an associate member of SOAS, University of London, crafts films with the ingredients to inspire social impact with the smallest possible environmental footprint
• The gunman in the Christchurch massacre was welcomed into the Al Noor Mosque with the words “hello brother” – TRT created an online video campaign for citizens worldwide to share their stories under the hashtag #hellobrother

The newly redesigned trophies are made from sustainable materials.

The winners of the IBC Social Impact awards will be revealed at the IBC 2019 Awards Ceremony at 18:30 on Sunday 15 September.