Documentary Audio Recognition Award Finalists 2018

Mansoor Adayfi spent 15 years imprisoned without charge at the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay. He takes us behind the headlines, telling the story of his years there through the artwork made by himself and other men detained as part of the “war on terror.”

Sarah Geis is an audio producer, editor, and teacher based in Chicago. She is a former artistic director of the Third Coast International Audio Festival.

Judge Michael Stewart said: “This is a great example of how radio can bring a world into being. Beautifully crafted, it tells a shocking story that makes us confront the appalling consequences of choices that our political leaders have made in our name.“

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Night terrors, flashbacks and the hidden cost of war – The Enemy Within explores the inner lives of women who care for former service personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Eleanor McDowall is one of the Directors of Falling Tree productions and the series producer of BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts. In her spare time she runs Radio Atlas – a home for subtitled audio from around the world.

Matthew Green worked as a foreign correspondent for 14 years for the Financial Times and Reuters, most recently in Pakistan and Afghanistan, before returning to the UK in 2013 to write his book ‘Aftershock: the untold story of surviving peace,’ which documents the struggles of British ex-forces and their families with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Judge Hardeep Singh Kohli said: “From an enigmatic beginning, The Enemy Within unfurled the frustration of the families living with PTSD. The honesty and sincerity of the contributions, not to mention the bravery, was like sandpaper to the soul. Like the best of what we do on the wireless, this doc shared the real stories of real people. It should also be noted that the diversity of contributors strengthened an already strong proposition.”

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From Behind the Wire and the Wheeler Centre, The Messenger brings you into the Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island – and reveals, in intimate detail, one man’s experience of what it’s really like to flee tragedy and seek asylum by boat.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat is a 26-year-old man from Sudan who was forcibly transferred to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, by the Australian government after seeking asylum.

Michael Green is a journalist based in Melbourne.

Judge Johanna Zorn said: “At the heart of this programme is Aziz Abdul Muhamat, an engaging guide to the infamous immigration centre on Manus Island where he is currently a detainee. Evocative and incredibly important, The Messenger creates a level of intimacy that fully immerses the listener in this relatively little-known story.“

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Jodee Mundy is the only person in her family who can hear, and ever since she was little, she has moved between the Deaf community and mainstream society, feeling a little out of place in both.

Georgia Moodie is a producer at Australia’s ABC RN, where she currently makes long-form stories for RN’s documentary programs.

Judge Hardeep Singh Kohli said: “Beautiful told and thoughtfully crafted, Deaf Heart was a kaleidoscope of entertaining, educational and evocative listening. The bringing together of disparate source material, material that could have (in less skilled hands) weighed the narrative down, were seemlessly crafted into a charming and insightful listen.”

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We head back to 1965 when Patricia, a teenage mod from the Midlands, was sent to Holloway Prison for supposedly being ‘out of control’.

Hannah Dean is a recent graduate from the MA Radio program at Goldsmiths College and winner of the 2018 Charles Parker Award for ‘Best student radio Feature’.

Judge Hardeep Singh Kohli said: “From the first few moments, this eccentric and engaging story was always going to be in the reckoning. That this highly accomplished and lovingly crafted story was related by a newcomer to our world of the wireless filled me with joy. We have a bright future with such creative story sharers coming through.”

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