Who won what at the North East and Cumbria Royal Television Society Awards 2020

Producers and presenters, script writers and students were among the four hundred media guests to attend the glitzy ceremony hosted by South Tyneside comedian Jason Cook.

Extra entertainment was provided by the voice of Strictly Come Dancing, Alan Dedicoat, who joined guests at the Hilton Newcastle-Gateshead for the event.

Award presenters included broadcasters Steph McGovern, Pam Royle, Dawn Thewlis, author Anne Cleaves and the location manager for the James Bond and Star Wars movies Mally Chung who presented a trophy in memory of the media executive and former Border TV presenter John Myers.

Regional broadcasters ITV Tyne Tees and BBC North East and Cumbria celebrated wins with ITV News Tyne Tees winning News Programme of the Year award the BBC’s Richard Moss awarded Presenter of the Year.

BBC Inside Out won the Current Affairs award for Medomsley’s Dark Secret – an Inside Out Special where the team revealed shocking details of historic abuse at the former County Durham detention centre.

Graeme Thompson, Chairman of the regional Royal Television Society Awards committee, said: “The RTS Awards are such a fantastic celebration of the region’s media and creative industries. The range of entries and outstanding quality demonstrate the incredible talent right here in the North East and Cumbria.”

Tees Valley Screen was presented with the prestigious Centre Award recognising the impact the organisation has had on boosting the region’s production presence and skills base. One of its recent successes was bringing the Sam Mendes production 1917 to film on the Tees Barrage.

The Outstanding Contribution award went to sports broadcaster Roger Tames who now works for a range of sports broadcasters following a long career as Head of Sport at ITV Tyne Tees.

BBC Children’s The Dumping Ground clinched the award for Drama ahead of ITV’s Vera featuring Brenda Blethyn as DCI Vera Stanhope. Obsession by TriHard won the Drama short-form prize.

The awards also celebrated new and emerging talent with many of the region’s university students entering the student award categories. Danny Murphy from ITV SignPost was awarded the Rising Star category for his role in the mini-series Mission Employable produced by the Gateshead based team.

BBC Look North also had reason to celebrate; Nisha Joshi was awarded the first Sport Award to be featured in the event and Chris Middis took home the trophy for Best Editing. Reporter Emma Wass was presented with the ‘Outstanding Journalism’ prize.

Kim Tzerkezie won Best Drama Performance for what judges described as “an agonisingly gripping performance” for her role as victim of domestic abuse in the film Obsession.

The Non Broadcast Factual award was presented by Philippa Tomson from ITV’s Good Morning Britain and was awarded to Forward Slash Films for the documentary ‘Irene’s Ghost’.

The Broadcast Factual award was won by Minnow Films for the Durham-based series Canny Cops on BBC Three.

We’re Gannin’ Oot Oot by Roundhouse Pictures picked up the Comedy and Entertainment award and Topher McGrillis scooped the photography award.

Graduate film maker Ed Westman won the Commercial category for the promotional film Watch This commissioned by the University of Sunderland.

Ellie Land and Iain Cunningham from Forward Slash Films took home the award for Animation and Titling. The RTS is a registered charity working to promote the creative industries.