The station has made the shortlist, which was whittled down from nearly 400 entries submitted across all the categories by stations from every corner of the UK.

Student Jose Goncalves’ radio piece ‘Fighting Fear With Hope’ has been nominated in the ‘Speech & Journalism of the Year’ category, while former station manager and Radio & Audio graduate, Toby Crabb, has been shortlisted for ‘Young Person of the Year’.

Alongside this, Radio LaB’s collaborative audio project with Luton Council to help encourage young people in the town to get vaccinated – #CovidConversations – has been nominated in the ‘Covid and Community Rebuild’ category.

Terry Lee, Senior Tutor in Radio & Audio and Radio LaB coordinator, said: “We’ve had a fantastic year at Radio LaB, with some amazing highlights. The three awards we’re shortlisted for each tell a different story – our close links with academic courses such as Journalism, the work we enjoy with developing young talent like Toby and the community engagement projects we lead on with university stakeholders such as Luton Council. I’m so proud of all the students involved in the station. Fingers crossed we can bring a bronze, silver or gold award back down the A6 or M1 in November!”  

This positive news comes after a fictional, pandemic-inspired audio drama created by a group of Bedfordshire students won the top prize at the 2021 Community Radio Awards – marking this the third year in a row that radio productions from the University scored Gold at these notable awards.

The 2022 winners will be revealed in a ceremony in Bedford on the 19th of November, with the evening ceremony following the Community Radio Conference organised by the UK Community Radio Network.

Martin Steers, Community Radio Awards Chair, said: “It’s been another great year for Community Radio across the UK, entertaining, informing and engaging local communities – the true purpose of local radio stations. As ever it’s been a big challenge for our judges from across the industry as the quality of entries is better than ever.  It’s a real testament to all that community radio stations do in their areas.

“We wish Radio LaB good luck and can’t wait to host the ceremony in Bedford next month.”