IBC has announced its most prestigious innovation award will be presented to the BBC to celebrate its 100 years in the media industry. The International Honour for Excellence this year recognises the world’s first public broadcaster and its achievements since it first went on air in 1922 as the organisation celebrates BBC100.
The award recognises the birth of the BBC as a pioneering moment and a catalyst for the content and technology industry it serves. The BBC’s timeline started with radio, quickly followed by Television, with experimental broadcasts in 1929 and the first public services in 1935. BBC iPlayer launched in 2007, paving the way for streaming and accessing huge amounts of content.
One of IBC’s owners, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, previously the Institute of Electrical Engineers, provided the BBC its first home in London, just off the Strand in 1923.
“Our industry, of course, has been driven forward by innovators and creators from all around the world,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “But all of us trace the source back to those cramped rooms in Savoy Hill. We are pleased to present the accolade to BBC 100, but in a very real sense this award is for all of us that care about the creativity, technology and business that surrounds every practitioner in the world of media.”
- Read more The IBC2022 Innovation Awards
IBC will also be celebrating the collaborative efforts of over 400 broadcast and media companies and individuals who have enabled broadcasting in Ukraine during the conflict. IBC announced that the Special Award this year will go to those who came together via LinkedIn and provided resources, solutions and hardware to Ukrainian TV channels and media outlets to ensure they could stay on air amid the ongoing war. The group, initiated by Sonya Chakarova at PlayBox Neo and Daniella Weigner of Cinegy, with consultant Phillip Covell, also supported refugees in finding media roles across Europe.
Other announcements include the IBC Innovation Awards Judges’ Prize, which will go to motion graphics guru Clinton Jones, better known to his million-plus social media following as Pwnisher. During lockdown Jones challenged 3D artists everywhere to design their own scenes under the title Infinite Journeys. Almost 2500 artists responded, devoting a collective of more than eighteen years of work and delivering stunning, magical, visionary scenes.
The Technical Papers Committee have also selected the winner of the Best Technical Paper award, recognising the engineers from Salsa Sound, Condense and The GRID Factory, led by Andrew Gower, Head of Interactive & Immersive Content Research at BT. Their work on a practical, deliverable project for live extended reality experiences using 5G and cloud GPU computing was considered both the most stimulating and the clearest on peer review.
All the IBC Awards will be showcased in a unique, digital-first ceremony to be streamed online at 4pm BST on Monday 5 September. This will include the announcement of the winners of the IBC Innovation Awards and Social Impact Awards.
The trophies will be presented to award winners during an on-site reception at IBC2022 at the RAI Amsterdam, in Room E102 at 18.30 CET on Sunday 11 September. Each of this year’s Technical Papers will also be presented as part of the IBC Conference (9th & 10th September).
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