Samira Ahmed shortlisted for broadcasting award after equal pay victory

Samira Ahmed has been shortlisted for an audio broadcaster of the year award weeks after she won her sex discrimination equal pay claim against the BBC.

The Front Row presenter has been nominated for the prize at the Broadcasting Press Guild's (BPG) annual ceremony.

Radio 4's Paddy O'Connell, podcast presenter George The Poet and radio DJs Roman Kemp and Dave Berry have also been nominated.

On January 10 an employment tribunal in London found that Ahmed should have been paid the same as fellow presenter Jeremy Vine for their work on Newswatch and Points Of View respectively.

Three BBC Radio 4 series have been shortlisted for the BPG radio programme of the year award, including In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg; The Life Scientific, presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili; and Soul Music.

They will compete against Hooked: The Unexpected Addicts, presented by Melissa Rice and Jade Wye on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Spoken word artist George The Poet is shortlisted for UK podcast of the year for Have You Heard George's Podcast?, alongside Radio 4's Intrigue, Tunnel 29 (BBC Sounds), about a tunnel dug under the Berlin Wall, written and presented by Helena Berryman; and Audible's The Sun King, about Rupert Murdoch, presented by David Dimbleby.

The awards recognise work commissioned or produced in the UK and broadcast in 2019 and are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.

The ceremony will take place at Banking Hall on March 13.

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