Active Travel Media Awards 2020
In November 2020 we held the Active Travel Academy’s second annual Media Awards – this time hosted virtually, in a live online event, with pre-recorded interviews with some of our nominees. In 2019 there were six different categories covering written and broadcast media, with winners being awarded for excellence in coverage of issues around active travel and road safety. In 2020 we added three more categories, with new awards for bloggers, campaigners and researchers, and student journalists.
The 12 months since we launched the Media Awards were unprecedented in so many ways. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic brought Active Travel into the limelight like never before, and this increased prominence is reflected in many of the shortlisted nominations. At the same time, the key issues around active transport and road safety remain the same, as does the importance of nuanced and mature media coverage of these issues.
There was a range of excellent nominations this year, and sadly not all could be included in the final shortlist. Below are our shortlisted entries – and winners – and you can read our blog on the event, here – and watch our recording of the livestream below. We are proud of how our team rallied together to make 2020’s virtual event a successful celebration of all things positive in the year’s active travel coverage, and we look forward to 2021’s event – perhaps one where we can in person, once more.
The Shortlist – and winners
- News (written)
- Tom Edwards – Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: Anger, hate and the politics of the planter, BBC News Online
- Kate Connolly and colleagues – Cleaner and greener’: Covid-19 prompts world’s cities to free public space of cars, The Guardian – Winner
- Peter Walker – Reduction in passenger road deaths ‘not matched by cyclists and pedestrians’, The Guardian
- Tom Wall – The New Road Rage, The Observer – Commended
- News (broadcast)
- Ben Schofield – Cycling Environment in Wellingborough [BBC iPlayer (episode no longer available)], BBC Look East (West)
- Kathryn Stanczyszyn – Could Birmingham copy Belgian city car ban? [via Facebook], BBC Midlands
- Alex Thomson – Covid and Active Travel Responses [All 4 (episode no longer available)], Channel 4 News – Winner
- Yetunde Yusuf – Brighton & Hove School Streets [BBC iPlayer (episode no longer available)], BBC South East Today – Commended
- Features (written)
- Jawad Iqbal – Nimbys are putting the brakes on our cycling revolution [Paywall], The Times
- Sirin Kale – Joggers and drinkers: what a day in the life of a Leeds park tells us about modern Britain, The Guardian – Commended
- Rianna Raymond-Williams – Meet Mercy Murua: The One Woman Army Fighting For Access For All [Paywall], Black Ballad
- Andrea Sandor – ‘For a ‘golden age of cycling’, Britain needs to make women feel safer on bikes’, CityMetric
- John Surico – When Street Design Leaves Some People Behind, Bloomberg
- Marcia Veiga – The Black Women Making Space For Themselves And Their Bikes On The Road [Paywall], Black Ballad – Winner
- Features (broadcast)
- Chris Boardman – Due to the covid-19 pandemic the planet effectively shutdown, meaning our public spaces and roads became quieter almost overnight [via Twitter], ITV4 Cycling – Commended
- Stephanie Hegarty (Reporter), Camelia Sadeghzadeh (Executive Producer/Director), Eva Ontiveros (Producer), Derrick Evans (Camera) – What would a city designed by women be like?, BBC News (Online) – Winner
- Ben Hobson – #Runsome Podcast
- Margherita Taylor – Rural Accessibility to nature [BBC iPlayer (episode no longer available)], Countryfile Spring Diaries
- Local media
- David Bocking – Sheffield expert hails benefits of just going for a walk, Sheffield Telegraph – Winner
- Saiqa Chaudhari – University gears up to keep students safe, The Bolton News
- Chris Williams – Meet the cyclists who love to ride around Brighton and Hove, The Argus
- Matthew McLaughlin – Bradford on Avon cycle lane sees mixed response, Wiltshire Times – Commended
- Campaign or Research
- Kieran Alger – Runners, now is our chance to change how we travel, Runner’s World
- Charles Critchell – What will promote or prevent a wider uptake of non-commercial cargo bike use in London? Parts 1 & 2, Fare City – Winner
- Zeina Hawa – Safer school streets play a vital part of our recovery plans, Sustrans
- Lucy Marstrand – Strategic planning must focus more on secondary school trips , TransportXtra – Commended
- Investigation
- Harry Cockburn – ‘Watching your child struggling to breathe is horrible’: The lives changed by Britain’s poisonous air, The Independent
- Nicholas Hellen – Waltham Forest, the suburb that pioneered the ‘20-minute neighbourhood’[Paywall], The Times – Commended
- Emma Latham Phillips – Green Spaces for All, Tribune – Winner
- Carlton Reid – How a Belgian port city inspired Birmingham’s car-free ambitions, The Guardian
- Student Journalist
- Lilian Fawcett – Students at risk? Air pollution on King’s campuses, Roar News (King’s College London) – Commended
- Eleanor Hooker – 25 reasons why you should start cycling, The Student’s Union (UWE)
- Simeon Lee – Nottingham named as one of UK’s best universities for cycling, The Tab Nottingham
- Ellie Martin – Lack of inclusive cycling in cities excludes disabled cyclists, The Mancunion (University of Manchester) – Winner
- Blog
- Sarah Berry – Taking Up Space — Diary of a New Cyclist Pt 2. – Winner
- Magda Cepeda Zorrilla – COVID-19 in West Midlands, an Opportunity for Fostering Urban Micro-Mobility
- The Ranty Highwayman – Tackling The Main Roads – Commended
- Rupert Weare – Enabling Safe Walking and Cycling via Local Bridges
- Special Award
Brian Deegan and Dr Robert Davis for the ‘Ideas with Beers’ series of webinars and news digests.
Our expert panel of judges was co-chaired by journalist Laura Laker and Director of the Active Travel Academy Professor Rachel Aldred, with academics Professor Guy Osborn, Victoria Hazael (Cycling UK), Tanya Braun (Living Streets), and Dr David Fevyer (Active Travel Academy).
You can view a recording of the full livestream of the awards event here.