The Nick Clarke Award was created in honour of the popular and highly respected former presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, who died in November 2006 of cancer. This award is presented annually both to celebrate his life and work, and to encourage new and established broadcast journalists to demonstrate his values and techniques in their interviewing. Nick’s hallmarks were his punctilious preparation and briefing, his relentless pursuit of the truth amidst the spin and distraction, his abnegation of self and his unfailing politeness.

The award was launched by former Radio 4 Controller, Mark Damazer, at the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2007. It is open to the whole UK media industry - Radio and TV. Each station or programme wishing to enter can nominate one interview per presenter, reporter or interviewer. Therefore you can enter as many interviews as you like, depending on the number of presenters and reporters on your team.

Potential winners will be those presenters or interviewers who have left a strong impression on the audience; interviews that provided a deeper understanding of their subject matter or that were particularly memorable. Nick Clarke knew better than anyone that there are many ways to get to the heart of the matter.

The Judges

The shortlist judges for 2016 are:
Nick Sutton – Editor of BBC News Online and former Editor of WATO
Fiona Sturges – Journalist for The Independent, FT, and The Guardian, among others.
Owenna Griffiths – Editor of The World At One and The World This Weekend
Eleanor Mills – Editorial Director of The Sunday Times, and Editor of Sunday Times Magazine
Sue MacGregor – former presenter of Women’s Hour and Today programme
Sian Williams – presenter of 5 News and former BBC Breakfast presenter
Scott Taunton – CEO of TalkSPORT
Anne McElvoy – journalist for The Economist and London Evening Standard, and presenter for BBC Radio 3 Night Waves.

Final Judges:
Kevin Marsh – Director of OffSpin Media and former Editor of Today programme
Gillian Reynolds – radio critic, journalist and broadcaster, and Fellow of The Radio Academy

The Prize

The winner will be announced and presented at the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and will receive a certificate as well as a dozen bottles of good claret – which Nick himself would have enjoyed.