Winners of new-look IBC Awards revealed

IBC2023  has announced the winners of its prestigious Innovation and Social Impact Awards, celebrating ground-breaking initiatives transforming the media industry landscape. The IBC Innovation Awards, which honour collaborative efforts to create fresh solutions that address real-world challenges, were announced at an early evening event in the IBC Premium Lounge. The IBC Social Impact Awards, which recognise projects that address critical industry diversity, inclusivity and environmental challenges, took place earlier in The Forum as part of the Changemakers Programme.

“I want to congratulate this year’s winners and everyone else involved with the 2023 Innovation and Social Impact Awards,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “The winning entries epitomise today’s IBC, which looks to inspire, foster, and recognise the transformative innovation and critical change we are witnessing across the media and entertainment industry. They represent the pioneering and collaborative spirit at the heart of IBC, bringing imagination and vision to the work they are doing and sharing it with the wider M&E community.”

With a new look, this year’s IBC Awards were more closely aligned with the content programme running through the show. The Innovation Awards celebrated the transformative technology that is driving much of the industry forward in a new software- and services-led direction. This year’s Social Impact Awards were part of the Changemaker Programme, with its theme of People and Purpose, focusing on diversity, sustainability, and the positive use of technology.

The winners in the three categories of the 2023 IBC Innovation Awards were:

• Content Creation: The BBC and partners for the world’s largest pop-up 5G standalone non-public network for live broadcast contributions using shared spectrum, deployed for the Coronation of HM King Charles III
• Content Distribution: Sky Group for its cloud-native software playout platform for the origination of linear content TV channels across European territories
• Content Everywhere: KAN, which changed the way Israel watched World Cup Qatar 2022 and Eurovision 2023 with Sport BUFF real-time interactive engagement.

The winners in the three categories of the 2023 IBC Social Impact Awards were:

• Social Impact Award: RTVE, which used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide local election news coverage of nearly 5,000 small Spanish municipalities
• Diversity and Inclusion: SWI swissinfo.ch, which introduced a data-driven process to evaluate the use of inclusive language in its multi-lingual digital newsroom
• Environment and Sustainability: Iron Mountain Data Centres, which are on the path to using 100% locally sourced clean electricity 100% of the time to make their operations carbon free.

Across both award events, IBC presented a series of previously announced Special Awards celebrating the very best in innovation and change in media and entertainment.

At the Innovation Awards, the IBC International Honour for Excellence (IHFE) – announced in August – was formally presented to Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group on the 100^th anniversary of its founding by Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L. Warner.

Also at that event, the 2023 Special Award for Innovation, another award announced ahead of the show, was presented to the German DVB-I Pilot – an initiative bringing together multiple stakeholders from the German media industry, including broadcasters, device manufacturers, software providers and research institutions.

The Best Technical Paper Award, another pre-announced honour presented at the Innovation Awards, was given to Mark Waddell, Ian Wagdin, David Butler (BBC), Sam Yoffe, Kenny Barlee, Douglas Allan, Malcolm Brew, and Robert Stewart (University of Strathclyde and Neutral Wireless) for their work on a 5G standalone non-public network at the Coronation of King Charles III.

As part of its Social Impact Awards programme, IBC presented a previously announced Special Award to Women in Streaming Media for its Mentorship Programme, which focuses on career development and personal growth goals that support business objectives.

New for 2023 is the IBC Changemaker Award – also previously announced – which went to the Eurovision Song Contest for its contribution to society and culture. At the Social Impact Awards presentation event, IBC welcomed Martin Österdahl, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, to the stage to accept the award.