The Celtic Media Festival came to a close in Swansea this evening with the presentation of the final Bronze Torc Awards for Excellence, which saw a community radio station – Raidió na Life – win the award for Radio Station of the Year for the first time in the festival’s 34-year history.

The community-of-interest radio station has been broadcasting in Dublin since 1993, providing high quality community-based Irish language radio service with an urban identity to the Irish-speaking community of Dublin and surrounding areas on a non-profit basis. It beat off stiff competition from BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC Radio Wales, Isles FM 103, Radyo an Gernewegva and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, with an international jury awarding the community station with the prestigious prize at tonight’s ceremony.

The Kieran Hegarty Award for Innovation went to CBBC Sports Superstars – a collection of sporty online games for CBBC, in which players create their Sport Superstar, then perfect their endurance, balance, strength, coordination, agility and aim skills in the Training Ground. Sport Superstars is a fast and fun way for all kids to feel like sporting champs.

Welsh film Catherine and Kirstie: Beyond Words won the Torc for Factual Single. It is a powerful and moving film authored by twins Catherine and Kirstie Fields from Llanelli, the only people in the world that suffer from Fields Condition. Gradually, this devastating illness has confined them to their wheelchairs and rendered speech impossible. Communicating through speech aids for the first time, the film is the remarkable story of their bravery, humour and deep love for each other, their family and friends.

Ireland’s Rás Tailteann – Rothai an tSaoil was presented with the prestigious Gold Torc for Spirit of the Festival Award, which is bestowed upon a film or television programme wholly or substantially in a Celtic language that encapsulates the spirit of Celtic Media Festival each year. The documentary won the Sport category on Wednesday for its fascinating insight into the story behind one of Ireland’s greatest sporting institutions: The Rás Tailteann cycling race, and was presented with the overall Spirit of the Festival Award this evening.

Highlights from the final day of the 34th annual Celtic Media Festival today included talks by Guto Harri and Peter J. Devlin, with Maggie Brown chairing a panel featuring Dafydd Rhys, Marc Webber, Rab McConaghy and Simon Bolus on rising significance of social media as an indicator of audience demographics, exploring the value of hashtags vs BARB, plus a visit from special guest Daleks as the festival paid tribute to Doctor Who in its 50th year.

Earlier in the day, Ireland’s Documentary On One – Míne Bean Uí Chribín, My Granny won the Bronze Torc Award for Radio Documentary. In this documentary, the grand-daughter of Míne Bean Uí Chribín to reconcile her memory of an elderly woman who was endlessly available to others with the image of an ultra-conservative hate figure. One of the most provocative and colourful public figures in Ireland in recent decades, Míne Bean Uí Chribín voiced her staunch opinion that Ireland was a Catholic country and should remain so passionately, in newspapers, at public meetings, on radio and TV.

Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile was named Radio Presenter-Personality for her work as the presenter of RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Iris Ania. The show tackles a variety of issues, such as politics, the environment, community activities and health issues, as well as concentrating on issues such as bullying, depression and emigration, as well as featuring live music, regular gardening items, competitions and comedy.

Welsh drama series Gwlad yr Astra Gwyn emerged victorious in the Young People’s category. Set entirely within a taxi, Gwlad yr Astra Gwyn creates an entire “world” inside a cab where the transience of Saturday night is portrayed by the fleeting and interlaced appearances of a myriad of characters led by gullible taxi driver Trefor.

London 2012: Winning Women after the Games took home the award for Radio Sports for its coverage of Irish women athletes making history at the Olympic Games. With Katie Taylor winning Gold and more women qualifying and competing than ever before last year, for the first time about half of the Irish team were women, and Athena Media profiled some of the women athletes and their stories for Newstalk Breakfast.

Welsh series C2: Canu Protest won Radio Music Programme. Presented by Yr Ods singer Gruff Lynch, this 6-part series takes a look at the history of popular protest songs over the decades in Wales. Spurred on by the 60s civil rights movement worldwide, musical protest amongst young people in Wales began a long tradition that has embodied the fight for language rights for at least three decades – overarching the fight to save Tryweryn in the early sixties to the creation of Radio Cymru and S4C some decades later – and remains to this day an integral and vibrant part of the Welsh language cultural scene.

Tai Bach y Byd was named best Factual Series for its quizzical look at the toilet in various cultures, from the earliest mention of toilets in the Bible, to the hi-tech toilets of Japan, exploring how the design has changed over the years, and the importance of sanitation.

Highlights from today’s event included talks by Guto Harri and Peter J. Devlin, with Maggie Brown chairing a panel featuring Dafydd Rhys, Marc Webber, Rab McConaghy and Simon Bolus on rising significance of social media as an indicator of audience demographics, exploring the value of hashtags vs BARB, and a special guest appearance from Daleks as the festival paid tribute to Doctor Who, which is filmed in the host country Wales and celebrates its 50th year this year.

For further details, please visit: www.celticmediafestival.co.uk

Source: Celtic Media Festival