UTV Live honoured at Royal Television Society NI awards

UTV Live has been honoured at the Royal Television Society NI Programme Awards, claiming the News Coverage award at a virtual ceremony hosted by Patrick Kielty.

The award was received in recognition of UTV Live’s journalism during the coronavirus pandemic, with the judges noting the coverage was “polished, insightful, and engaging”.

UTV’s Head of News and Programmes Simon Clemison said: “Thank you to all the team, both behind and in front of the camera, for all their hard work to keep the public informed at an extremely difficult time.”

Two of UTV’s Up Close programmes were also shortlisted in the Current Affairs category, namely The Poverty Spiral and Tied to Terror.

Chair of the RTS NI Maeve McLoughlin said: “This has been a challenging year to say the least, and we no doubt have further difficulties to overcome in the next few months.

“It was my wish, along with the whole of the RTS NI committee, to ensure that these awards took place this year regardless of the challenges we faced.

“We felt that the industry as a whole has worked tirelessly to adapt to new regulations and also social measures to ensure the creative industries keep powering on, and we wanted to acknowledge that hard work and dedication.”

The RTS NI Programme Awards 2020 were delivered in partnership with BBC Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Channel 4, along with headline sponsor Ka-Boom.