Find out more from the National Student Radio awards.
CSRfm, Canterbury’s local Community & Student Radio station won 2 awards at the National Student Radio Awards at the O2 last week.
On Thursday 5th November 2015 at the National Student Radio Awards held at the O2 in London – and hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo and Matt Edmonson, Capital FM’s Dave Berry, and The Vodafone Big Top 40’s Kat Shoob – Canterbury’s local radio station CSRfm picked up two national awards in the ‘Best Marketing & Station Sound’ and ‘Best Female’ categories.
The first win of the night came with the station picking up Bronze for ‘Best Marketing & Station Sound’, after pooling as one of six stations shortlisted in a category that 64 stations across the country were eligible for.
Relevant to the category, in the last year running up to the award the station has launched a brand-new website, overhauled its branding and design, launched a new local music sub-brand, produced an entirely new ‘station sound’, relaunched The Youth Academy, fundraised for local charity SNAAP, and has made leaps and strides getting out into the local community of Canterbury with its very first Outside Broadcast in the city recorded in March 2015 on the high street.
Particularly commended was ‘CSR Presents’, a new sub-brand that the station launched in November 2014 to be true to its roots as a champion of local music and creative talent, a way of celebrating the talent of local artists, musicians, performers and entertainers both on-air, online, and at monthly events held at The Ballroom in Canterbury.
“I am very proud of the Comms Team as well as the CYSM staff for this incredible result. We worked incredibly hard to create a distinctive identity over the last year. The simplicity of our new tagline ‘Your music. Your station. Your Canterbury.’ has become the basis upon which we have rebuilt our entire image as a station and we have been thrilled by the response across Canterbury as a result of this new approach. We achieved huge amounts last year so to come third for Best Marketing and Station Sound at the National Student Radio Awards is the perfect end to the year.”
– Philippa Johnstone, volunteer Communications Manager at CSRfm, 2014-15
The second win of the evening came when Canterbury Christ Church University student Anna Louise Walter won Silver for Best Female, arguably one of the three most sought-after categories of the night alongside Best Male and Best Station. Anna is the volunteer Head of Daytime Schedule for the station, and hosts her own drivetime show on Friday afternoons.
For Anna this win came just months after being incredibly well commended at the National Student Radio Conference in Exeter.
Since she submitted her radio demo to the awards earlier in the year, Anna has gone on to raise a whopping £1,861 for the Make-a-Wish UK Foundation after taking over the station for 12 hours with a jam-packed show of games, interviews, live music, and entertainment for all the family.
“I am absolutely over the moon and feel thrilled to have won such a prestigious national. It feels so surreal and like I’m living a dream! The ceremony was a rollercoaster of emotions and the event was amazing – a particular highlight was going into the VIP area afterwards as I met so many inspiring industry professionals that I’m now chatting to by email. I want to say a HUGE thankyou to the SRA and all the judges for my win, to CSR for all their continued encouragement and support right from the start, and to my family for their love and faith in me and all my radio madness. I couldn’t do it without them all! I’m very excited for the future (and to start presenting The SRA Selector in January!)”
– Anna Louise Walter, volunteer Head of Daytime and drivetime presenter for CSRfm, 2014-Present.
This all follows the volunteer-run station’s best year at the I LOVE STUDENT RADIO awards back in April 2015 where they were not only the most nominated and most shortlisted station, but also the most award-winning. Anna’s victory in the Best Female category also throws back to the 2014 National Student Radio Awards, where former daytime DJ and Canterbury Christ Church University student Joel Grove won Silver for Best Male.
The station now looks forward to its buzzing calendar in the year ahead, having recently embarked on a partnership with the Kent & Medway Collaborative Network sponsoring The Youth Academy, as well as making several new developments that will help the station in its efforts to boost its presence within the community of Canterbury as a recognised platform giving a voice to local people.