The Audio and Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS, ARIAs, or UK ARIAs) are annual awards awarded for excellence in UK radio and audio presenting and production. Established in 2016 by the

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...

, they succeeded the

Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

, the academy's honours system of 1983 to 2014 (there were no awards for 2015). They are awarded for productions in the previous calendar year. In contrast to many other media award ceremonies, three winners are selected by judging panels for each category and graded Gold, Silver or Bronze. In May 2019 the Young ARIAs were inaugurated at the

BBC Radio Theatre The BBC Radio Theatre (originally named The Concert Hall) is a theatre situated within the BBC's Broadcasting House complex. It is used for live broadcast and audio recordings. History Originally named The Concert Hall, the theatre was desi ...

in London in a ceremony hosted by BBC Radio 1's

Matt Edmondson Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2. Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...

and

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

host Daisy Maskell. The very next year they were rebranded as the Young Audio Awards.

Notable omissions

Since their launch, the Audio and Radio Industry Awards have been shunned by the biggest commercial radio group in the UK,

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...

. Although the Radio Academy is not supported by Global Radio this does not preclude it from entering programmes or presenters from its stations, namely

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

Capital Xtra Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global Media & Entertainment, Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM broadcasting, FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB Digital Ra ...

, Classic FM, Smooth Radio, Radio X or

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

ARIAs 2016

Nominations for the 16 inaugural award categories were unveiled on 19 September 2016 by Radio 1's

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...

and Pandora Christie of

. The shortlist for each category was limited to five nominees.

ARIAs 2017

Nominations were revealed on 18 September 2017 by

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

presenters

Kate Lawler Kate Lawler (born 7 May 1980) is an English television personality, presenter, model and DJ. She became the first female winner of ''Big Brother UK'' after winning the third series of the reality series in 2002. Since ''Big Brother'', she has ...

and

Matt Richardson Matthew Jeffrey Richardson (born 28 May 1991) is an English comedian and broadcaster, known as a co-presenter on the ITV2 spin-off show '' The Xtra Factor'' with Caroline Flack in 2013. In 2016, Richardson became the drive time presenter on the ...

. The number of categories was increased to 23, each with a shortlist of six nominees.

ARIAs 2018

Nominations were revealed on 17 September 2018 by

Capital South Wales Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay. History The station ...

presenters Matt Lissack and

Polly James Polly James (born 8 July 1941) is an English actress with a career in theatre, film, television and radio. Career Pauline James was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, under the name Pauline Devaney. After graduating from RADA, her TV career began ...

. New categories introduced this year included Best Local Radio Show, Funniest Show, Best Commercial Promotion and Best Station Sound.

ARIAs 2019

Fallow Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting pest life cycles ...

year (no awards ceremony was held in 2019).

ARIAs 2020

The awards ceremony was moved to a spring slot from its traditional autumn fixture and took place at The London Palladium. Nominations were revealed on 15 January 2020.

ARIAs 2021

The nominees were announced on 21 April 2021. Due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions the 2021 awards ceremony was an hybrid event with just 100 invited guests in a small theatre at

The May Fair Hotel The May Fair Hotel is a luxury hotel on Stratton Street in Mayfair, London, near the site of Devonshire House in Piccadilly. It opened in 1927 with King George V and Queen Mary in attendance. The hotel is now owned by Edwardian Hotels, and Ind ...

. In recognition of content produced to support audiences in lockdown, new categories included The Creative Innovation Award, The Impact Award and The 2020 Special Award.

ARIAs 2022

The nominees were announced on 5 April 2022. The awards ceremony was once again a live in-person event after the lifting of

restrictions.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Audio and Radio Industry Awards British radio awards 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 2016