The 15th annual Association for International Broadcasting Awards (AIBs) have opened for entry, helping programme makers across the world share and showcase their best work of the year. Launched in 2005, the AIBs have become established as the major international competition for factual productions.
The Association for International Broadcasting is a non-profit, non-government, industry association founded in 1993 to represent, promote and assist its members. It has a diverse membership of companies in around 30 countries, including major broadcasters serving audiences of over one billion people each week.
The AIBs 2019 have 21 categories ranging from daily journalism through to human interest, sport to children’s.
The categories for Radio/Audio include Arts and culture, Human interest, Daily journalism: single report, Daily journalism: ongoing reporting, Investigative and Factual podcast.
Demonstrating the truly international dimension of the AIBs, all categories are open to work in every language. Winners in the past have submitted work in Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish and Swedish, among other languages.
“The AIBs are one of the highlights of the Association for International Broadcasting’s work each year,” says Simon Spanswick, Chief Executive of the AIB. “Each year we are truly privileged to see so much of the world’s best factual programmes entered into the competition. Many programmes deal with really tough, challenging subjects but they provide an extraordinary snapshot of the contemporary world. We work to ensure that that the entries are shared as widely as possible, helping to share best practice among programme makers around the world.”
Judging of the AIBs is undertaken by an international panel of experts, who bring global perspective and extensive industry experience to the competition. The judging takes place in September using the AIB digital voting system which provides online access to all shortlisted entries.
“We have more than 50 judges who give their time voluntarily to make the AIBs a success,” says Clare Dance, co-ordinator of the AIBs. “Every year our judges tell us that they are astounded by the range of content they see and hear, much of it material that they would not normally be able to view or listen to. Judges have gone on to commission programmes from producers who have been shortlisted, so the AIBs help develop international collaboration.”
The last date for submitting entries is 28 June 2019 and full information is available at http://theaibs.tv. The entry book is available here.