IBC2022 marks BBC centenary with International Honour for Excellence

IBC announces the IBC2022 International Honour for Excellence, its most prestigious award, will be presented to the BBC as part of its centenary celebrations.

The world’s first public broadcaster went on air in 1922, and BBC 100 is a celebration of everything that has come since. IBC recognises that pioneering moment as the catalyst that sparked the whole content and technology industry it serves.

“Our industry, of course, has been driven forward by innovators and creators from all around the world,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “But all of us trace the source back to those cramped rooms in Savoy Hill in London in 1922. We are pleased to present the accolade to BBC 100, but in a very real sense this award is for all of us that care about the creativity, technology and business that surrounds every practitioner in the world of media.”

Television quickly followed radio in the BBC timeline, with experimental broadcasts in 1929 and the first public services in 1935. More recently, BBC iPlayer was launched in 2007, its powerful and pioneering streaming service providing access to huge amounts of content. And, in a happy coincidence, the BBC’s first home, in Savoy Place, was provided by the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE), now the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and one of IBC’s owners.

IBC has also announced the winners of two exceptional awards for 2022. Initiated by Sonya Chakarova at PlayBox Neo and Daniella Weigner of Cinegy, with consultant Phillip Covell, more than 400 broadcast and media companies and individuals came together via LinkedIn to provide resources, solutions and hardware to Ukrainian TV channels and media outlets to ensure they could stay on air amid ongoing conflict. The group also supported refugees in finding media roles across Europe. Their efforts are recognised by an IBC Special Award.

Clinton Jones, better known to his million-plus social media following as Pwnisher, is a motion graphics guru. During lockdown he challenged 3D artists everywhere to design their own scenes under the title Infinite Journeys. 2448 artists responded, devoting a collective of more than eighteen years of work and delivering stunning, magical, visionary scenes. The judging panel for the IBC Innovation Awards were so impressed by the efforts that they awarded him their Judges’ Prize.

The Technical Papers Committee have also chosen the paper that, on peer review, they feel is both the most stimulating and the clearest. For their work on a practical, deliverable project for live extended reality experiences using 5G and cloud GPU computing, engineers from Salsa Sound, Condense and The GRID Factory, led by Andrew Gower, Head of Interactive & Immersive Content Research at BT, will receive the Best Technical Paper award. Each of this year’s Technical Papers will be presented as part of the IBC Conference (9^th & 10^th September).

All the IBC Awards will be showcased in a unique, digital-first ceremony to be streamed online at 16.00 BST on Monday 5 September. This will include the announcement of the winners of the IBC Innovation Awards and Social Impact Awards. The trophies will be presented to award winners during an on-site reception at IBC2022 at the RAI Amsterdam, in Room E102 at 18.30 CET on Sunday 11 September.