Press Releases - November/December 2009
Item 32

No. 2009-11-45
November 2009

Media Wildlife Champions Honoured

Members of TV, press, radio and new media gathered at the House of Lords yesterday to honour six from their ranks, with the presentation of the UK’s newest wildlife award, the British Trust for Ornithology’s, Dilys Breese Medal.

The Dilys Breese Medal is awarded for excellence in communicating the work of the BTO to a wider audience, and raising the profile of bird conservation both nationally and internationally.

Presented by Baroness Barbara Young, President of the BTO, the first recipients of the award are; TV Producer and Wildlife Writer, Stephen Moss - Radio Presenter and Producer, Brett Westwood – Journalist and Environment Editor, Stuart Winter - TV Presenter, Writer and Wildlife Stalwart, Tony Soper - New Media guru, Fiona Barclay. Highland Journalist, Ray Collier was the sixth medalist but was unable to be at the Awards Ceremony.

Dilys Breese was a stalwart of the BBC Natural History Unit and a life-long supporter of the BTO. A generous legacy to the BTO from Dilys made this award possible.

Graham Appleton, Director of Communications at the BTO, commented, “When Dilys Breese died, her Executor wanted to make sure that her name would not be forgotten. Dilys spent her life communicating the wildlife message to a wide range of audiences: By setting up the Dilys Breese Medal we are passing her media baton to a new team of wildlife ambassadors.”

Designed by Wildlife Artist Robert Gillmor, the Dilys Breese Medal will be awarded annually to the UK’s best communicators of the work of the BTO and bird conservation. In future years there will only be a single award.

1. The recipients of the first Dilys Breese Medals are;

Television:
Stephen Moss, producer of TV programmes including Springwatch and The One Show, has provided many opportunities to showcase the work of the BTO.  Stephen has advised the BTO on publicity and membership and is particularly supportive of citizen science.

Radio:
Brett Westwood of the BBC’s Natural History Unit works with many BTO staff and volunteers, on the Nature programmes and in BBC Radio 4’s World on the Move series.  He is a naturalist, radio producer and presenter, and writes for BBC Wildlife.
 
National Press:
Stuart Winter writes in the Sunday Express.  He is a consistently supportive journalist, bringing BTO stories to a large readership.  

Writer:
Tony Soper has been writing about birds, particularly garden birds, for many years.  He is a long-standing supporter of BTO, especially for Garden BirdWatch and the annual National Nest Box Week. 
 
Web Media:
Fiona Barclay of BirdGuides has encouraged the BTO’s efforts to promote itself on-line.  She has been interested in the development of BirdTrack and has given a huge boost to the image of ringing, producing short videos about the work of volunteers.
 
Regional media:
Ray Collier (in absentia) not only always reports on BTO press releases in his Highland Country Diaries, he also writes for the Guardian Country Diary.  There is a higher concentration of BTO members and supporters in Ray’s patch than in almost any other part of the UK.

Dilys worked in the BBC Natural History Unit and was responsible for many of the Wildlife on One programmes. She produced the first Meerkat Manor and produced Wildlife, the radio programme that answered listeners’ questions.

Through a generous legacy from Dilys Breese the BTO has developed a fund to support the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme and to set up the annual Dilys Breese BTO medal. The medal has been designed by Robert Gillmor.  It shows a Robin, set against a TV screen.  Dilys was working on a book on Robins when she died.

2. The BTO is the UK’s leading bird research organisation.  Over forty thousand birdwatchers contribute to the BTO’s surveys.  They collect information that forms the basis of conservation action in the UK.  The BTO maintains a staff of 100 at its offices in Norfolk and Stirling, who analyse and publicise the results of project work.  The BTO’s investigations are funded by government, industry and conservation organisations.

For further information please contact:

Paul Stancliffe (Press Officer)
Office: 01842 750050 (9am to 5.30pm)
Mobile: 07845 900559 (anytime)
Email:

Graham Appleton (Director of Communications)
Office: 01842 750050 (9am to 5.30pm)
Email:

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Please contact quoting reference 2009-11-45

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