News & Events
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'Family Ties' Takes Parker Prize Ruth-Anne Lynch wins with her engaging radio piece |
The telling of a personal story involving a family coping with crisis has won a prestigious prize for a University of Sunderland student.
Ruth-Anne Lynch's made-for-radio feature 'Family Ties' earned the 2006 Charles Parker Prize from Bournemouth University's renowned Media School for what judges described as a naturalistic and engaging piece which charts the changing dynamics of the parent-child relationship.
The prize was presented by Simon Elmes, the BBC's Head of Radio Documentaries and Features, at the end of Charles Parker Day, held in Bournemouth to honour the man who revolutionized radio features in the 1950s with his now famous series of Radio Ballads broadcast by the BBC. Elmes was joined on the judging panel by Dr. Piers Plowright, Radio Features Producer and Jane Anderson, Radio Editor, Radio Times.
| Charles Parker Award | |
| Listen to the Charles Parker Award Prize-giving (MP3 21.4MB) |
British born Ruth-Anne, with parents from Jamaica and Guyana, completed her Masters in Radio Production and Management, at the University of Sunderland in October 2005, under the supervision of Andy Cartwright and Jim Beaman. She set out to produce a piece about a reunion between her mother and a previously unknown sister, in Guyana. When her father became ill, however, the piece changed and Ruth-Anne carried on recording as her family dealt with the situation.
"'Family Ties' was produced from hours of recordings made in 2005 during the Easter holidays when I returned home to Guyana," says Ruth-Anne who received a cheque for £500 and a two-week placement work placement with the BBC Radio Documentaries Unit. "It was amazing that during the drama of my father's illness and through to his recovery, my family kept up the spirit of the piece and kept the microphone recording; the result is my first ever radio documentary which I am very pleased has won this prestigious prize."
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Ruth-Anne Lynch won £500 along with a two-week placement with the BBC Radio Documentaries Unit |
Charles Parker Day on Friday, 7th April, is hosted by The Media School's Centre for Broadcasting History. Charles Parker's daughter Sara, a distinguished radio features producer in her own right, joined a host of guest speakers at the event including award-winning singer-singwriter John Tams, winner of three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, 2006, and producer of the modern 'Radio Ballads' currently being broadcast by the BBC; Gillian Reynolds, broadcaster and radio critic for the Daily Telegraph; and BBC Producer Kate McCall looked at the work of the legendary American radio producer, Norman Corwin whose life and work was immortalised in a film that won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Charles Parker was born in Bournemouth on April 5th, 1919 and went on to become a Senior Features Producer for the BBC in the Midlands. It was during his time in Birmingham that he made the first of his famous Radio Ballads - The Ballad of John Axon - defining the style of music and direct speech, montage, narrator-less features which celebrated the working anti-establishment in British society. He died in 1980 at the age of 60.
"Charles Parker's work has become legendary," enthuses Professor Sean Street of the The Media School, "This day is an opportunity to celebrate his work, and to examine in broader terms the art of the radio feature, past, present and future."
Plans are already in motion for Charles Parker Day, 2007, which will be held in Birmingham, where Parker's work was centred, on 30 March.
Related Courses & Links- MA Radio Production
- Foundation Degree in Radio Production
- The Centre for Broadcasting History Research
