These nominations are the latest piece of good news to come from the University’s School of Culture & Communications and Radio LaB, after student Laura Conder produced an audio-documentary which won silver at the Student Radio Awards earlier this month.

The Community Radio Awards have been celebrating volunteers and community radio stations for the last five years. The judging panel is comprised of personnel from a number of backgrounds such as the community radio sector and academics.

Laura Conder, who graduated this summer with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, created an audio-documentary which aired on Radio LaB back in June. Recorded during lockdown, ‘Meet the Smugglers’ investigated people smuggling as part of her final year coursework and has been nominated in the Community Radio Awards’ Speech & Journalism of the Year category.

Officially an award winning journalist. Thank you so much @PaulRowinskiUK @terryleeradio and @RadioLaB971fm for all your fantastic support. Great achievement for RadioLab, the University of Bedfordshire and me. pic.twitter.com/1DeGnQdGlt

— Laura Conder (@LauraConder89) November 6, 2020

Now up for this second radio industry award, Laura thanked the University for the opportunity it gave her:

Producing an investigative documentary during the lockdown was very trying, so I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I was so lucky to have the fantastic support of all the Journalism team at the University, particularly Dr Paul Rowinski and Terry Lee.

I really enjoyed my time at Radio LaB and it definitely gave me the skills to produce a better documentary. I feel I have a fantastic career ahead of me, and I am very excited for the future.

Terry Lee, who oversees the award-winning Radio LaB station alongside a number of student Station Managers, said:

It gives me great pride to see Radio LaB shortlisted in two prominent radio awards this year – the SRAs and the Community Radio Awards. Laura has produced a fantastic piece of work that is personal, powerful and thought-provoking – she really deserves the recognition.

2020 has been a challenging year for Radio LaB and our students, so awards nominations are really a very welcome distraction.

🥳 We are shortlisted for TWO @CommRadioAwards #CRAs2020 this year!@LauraConder89's 'Meet The Smugglers' is up for the 'Journalism' award.@terryleeradio & Primrose (7) are shortlisted in the 'Podcast' category.

We are delighted 🎉🍾 (🥤 for Primrose) https://t.co/gUOBEvoMvO

— Radio LaB 97.1fm (@RadioLaB971fm) November 15, 2020

Terry, who is also Senior Tutor of Radio and Audio at the University, has been nominated in the Podcast category. His podcast ‘Primrose and Terry: in the shed’, which he records with his daughter, is one of five nominees.

The podcast includes features such as interviews with Hermione the hamster, stories of sports days and comic book reviews.

When schools were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Terry decided to let Primrose experience podcasting as some extra-curricular fun alongside her home-based school work. Her first taste in podcast-producing began in March and she now takes on editorial responsibility. Terry said:

Primrose makes the editorial decisions when we record an episode, my role is really to ask her questions and help her edit things together.

She has been happily telling her classmates and teachers about her podcast and being shortlisted for a nationally-recognised award. We are both surprised and thrilled to be shortlisted for a podcast series that was only ever created as a fun home-learning project at the start of the first lockdown.

Primrose has developed communication, organisation and interview skills through this project which are invaluable at any age.

The Community Radio Awards ceremony will take place live on Facebook and YouTube from 7pm on Saturday 12^th December 2020.

For further information about how to get involved in Radio LaB, visit: radiolab.beds.ac.uk

To discover all courses available with the School of Culture & Communications at the University of Bedfordshire, search online: www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/culture-and-communications