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Wheeler Centre podcast ‘The Messenger’ wins international radio program award

The Wheeler Centre and Behind the Wire’s co-produced podcast The Messenger won a Grand Award at the New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards on 19 June.

The podcast reports on Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz Muhamat’s experiences in Australia’s immigration detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The 10-part series is based on WhatsApp voice messages sent between Muhamat’s smuggled phone and podcast host Michael Green.

The other recipients of the Grand Award were Argentinian podcast Blackout and BBC Radio podcast World Cup ’66. The Messenger also received two Gold medals—for national/international affairs documentary broadcasts and for news podcasts.

The Wheeler Centre director Michael Williams said the organisation is ‘deeply committed to finding ways to connect our most important stories and our most powerful storytellers with as many people as possible’. ‘Our commitment to podcasting over the past few years only continues to grow. With additional support from the Victorian Government, the Wheeler Centre is carving out its own space for creatively, culturally driven audio storytelling that is rich, powerful and breaking new ground,’ said Williams.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the Victorian government allocated $300,000 to the Wheeler Centre in its 2017-18 state budget for a new podcasting centre.

To see all the winners, click here.

 

Category: Local news