LONDON—Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the media technology sector, honored Barbara Slater, Director of Sport for the BBC as its Woman of the Year last night at Troxy in London. More than 300 guests attended the sold-out event to recognize the achievements of this year’s winners and nominees. The ceremony was also streamed globally on Rise’s YouTube channel. Rise recognized the 2023 winners in 14 categories and also announced a Special Recognition Award in addition to the Rise Woman of the Year Award, which was sponsored by Zixi.
Barbara Slater competed as an international gymnast and Olympian before joining the BBC as a trainee assistant producer in 1983. Throughout her impressive career at the BBC she worked as Head of Production, Head of General Sports, and was appointed as Director of Sport in April 2009.
Barbara was awarded the OBE in 2014 for services to sport broadcasting, as well as many other awards during her career, including the Women in TV & Film Inspirational Women Prize in 2012, following the London Olympics which was the biggest sporting TV event in British broadcasting history. In her 14 years as Director of Sport, Barbara transformed BBC Sport and she became one of the most respected figures in the industry. Most notably, she changed attitudes to womens’ sport, generating enthusiasm from fans and enhancing its broadcasting profile, Rise said.
Claire Wilkie, Founder and Managing Director of Limitless Broadcast received the Rise Special Recognition Award.
Over 400 nominations were received from around the globe, citing the talents and achievements of inspirational women working in a variety of media and broadcast technology roles.
The winners of the 2023 Rise Awards, and those shortlisted, are:
Technical Operations Award - Sponsored by NEP
Winner: Morag McIntosh, Design Director, Studio Automation, BBC
Shortlist:
- Ale Gonzalez Galartza, Senior Product Specialist, farmerswife
- Bridget Young, Operations Manager, Evolutions
- Pilar Granados, Global Workflow Operations Manager, DAZN
- Sandy Isnard, Video Solutions Architect, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Sarah Adams, Senior Technical Supervisor, Sky
Product Innovation Award - Sponsored by Clear Com
Winner: Kate Vandy and Anna Holligan, BBC Senior Journalist and BBC Foreign Correspondent, The Bike Bureau
Shortlist:
- Anais Painchault, VP Product Compression & Processing, Ateme
- Hitomi Hamaba, Head of Product, Sony
- Kaia Tufteland, Senior Technical Product Manager, DAZN
- Sabrine Farnes, Product Owner, Bedrock Streaming
- Saskia Hook, Product Manager (Sports), WBD
- Teresa Demel, Principal Product Manager, Adobe
Business Operations Award - Sponsored by Telestream
Winner: Amanda Wall, Director of Operations, VITAC
Shorlist:
- Crystel Pham, Vice President Operations and Product Management, TPN
- Fauzia Mulla Stanyard, Director of Service Operations, Arqiva
- Joanne Lewis, Production Manager, Ross Video
- Kahleah Webb, Head of Operations, Gravity Media
- Pernilla Wraneus, VP Culture and People, Accedo
- Tami Hoffman, Director of News Distribution and Commercial Innovation, ITN
Student of the Year Award - Sponsored by SMPTE
Winner: Sophie Humphrey, Solent University
Shortlist:
- Esme Murphy, Global Academy
- Jess McMahon, Global Academy
- Nikoleta Kallipoliti, Marketing Intern, Accedo
- Rochelle Karabulut, Global Academy
Marketing and PR Award - Sponsored by Deluxe Media
Winner: Doris Retfalvi, Product Marketing Manager, disguise
Shortlist:
- Amber Burke, Communications Manager, Clear-Com
- Emily Pryor, Head of Marketing, Base Media Cloud
- Leanne Tomlin, Senior Marketing Manager, Perifery
- Lizzie Lawrence, Head of Marketing, M2A Media
- Zoe Mumba, Senior Manager PR & Communications, Bitmovin
R&D Engineer Award - Sponsored by Ross Video
Winner: Swetha Sridhar, Software Application Engineer, BSI/NEP
Shortlist:
- Caileen Dolan, Software Developer, Ross Video
- Francesca Pieri, DevOps Developer, Red Bee Media
- Manasa Vemulapati, Performance Engineer, Sky UK
- Natalia Lira, Software Engineer, Accedo
- Sailaja Vaddadi, Software Architect, Red Bee Media
The Ally Award - Sponsored by Vizrt
Joint Winners: Adam Tilbury-Eld, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, OVY; and Rich Welsh, Senior Vice President Innovation, Deluxe Media
Shortlist:
- Kieran Farr, Consultant
- Phillip Farinha, Director People and Culture, North America, Accedo
- Rohan Mitchell, ESG Director, EMG
The Influencer Award - Sponsored by disguise
Winner: Carina Schoo, Education Program Manager, Pixotope
Shortlist:
- Anita Erskine, Executive Director, AE Media
- Carolyn Giardina, Technology Editor, Hollywood Reporter
- Chloe Britton, Talent Recruitment Manager, MOOV TV
- Laura Davis, Managing Director, The Crewing Company
- Niki Whittle, Business Development Director, MOOV TV
- Ria Hebden, CEO, Wonder Women
Project Management or Delivery - Sponsored by ES Broadcast
Winner: Rachel Baldwin, Head of Programme & Project Delivery, BBC Technology Group
Shortlist:
- Abi Hemingway, Managing Director, Jackshoot TV
- Amber Barnett, Senior Solutions Specialist (Sports & Live Events) Ross Video
- Meghna Londhe, Project Manager Digital Video Solutions, Magnifi
- Nikki Perugini, UX and Design Director, Accedo
- Rachel Deas, Programme Manager, Red Bee Media
- Sylviane Lecomte, VP Growth and Solutions, Bedrock Streaming
Sales Award
Winner: Melissa Davis, Regional Director of Sales, Evertz
Shortlist:
- Alexandra Giusto, Senior Director, Strategic Accounts & Strategy, Zixi
- Helen Jeffrey, International Sales Director, NEP Connect
- Katri Sillaste, Commercial Director, TV3 Group Estonia
- Stacey Moorcroft, Director of Business Operations, Ross Video
Production Support Engineer Award - Sponsored by Riedel
Winner: Zoe Mendelsön, Technical Supervisor, SKY
Shortlist:
- Anna Masko, Senior Graphics Operator, MOOV TV
- Emily Bergun, Production Support Engineer, Sky
- Kathleen Gray, Senior Broadcast Engineer, NEP
- Suzanne Sharman, Production Artist, Singular.Live
Rising Star Award - Sponsored by Harmonic
Winner: Hollie Keen, Product Professional, BT Media & Broadcast
Shortlist:
- Eileen Kennedy-MacDonald, UX Researcher and Designer, Ross Video
- Emily Bergun, Associate Technical Specialist, Sky
- Jeremina Akrofi-Daniels, Multiskilled Operator, NEP Bow Tie
- Lauryn Fuller, Graphics Operator, MOOV TV
- Ray Kasprzyr, Product Specialist - Routers, Evertz
- Shola Russell, Productions Coordinator, EMG
- Sophie Kneeshaw, Associate Developer, Sky
- Holly Choules, Multi-Skilled Operator and Project Manager, Zest4TV
Business Leader Award - Sponsored by LiveU
Winner: Hannah Barnhardt, COO & Co-Founder, TMT Insights
Shortlist:
- Idunn Sofie Riise, Co- Founder & MD, Zille Media
- Rebekah Wilson, CEO & Technical Co-Founder, Source Elements
- Claire Wilkie, Founder, Limitless Broadcast
- Shannan Louis, Owner and Head of Studios, Fatbelly VFX
- Charlotte Layton, COO, Racoon Post
The Company Award for Investment in Women - Sponsored by Red Bee Media
Pixotope - Winner
Shortlist:
- Accedo
- Adobe
- disguise
- Newsbridge
