The Royal Television Society (RTS) has unveiled the winner of its annual RTS Young Technologist Award, sponsored by Netgem, internet TV service provider and presented in memory of A.M. Beresford-Cooke. Lawrence Card, Broadcast Engineering Trainee at BBC, was chosen to receive the prestigious award by a panel of industry expert judges, chaired by Digital Media consultant Terry Marsh.
Lawrence has spent the last two years on the BBC Broadcast Engineer Trainee graduate scheme, working towards his MSc in Broadcast Engineering. During this time, Lawrence has worked with the Radio Projects, World Service Distribution and Research and Development’s Immersive and Interactive content team. Lawrence is currently investigating how AI and machine learning can assist programme teams who require vision monitoring for his final project.
The RTS Young Technologist Award jury chair Terry Marsh, said: “We are thrilled to name Lawrence the RTS Young Technologist of the Year and celebrate the wealth of talented young individuals entering the field. The standard of entries was remarkably high this year but Lawrence’s broad industry perspective and wide technical knowledge, coupled with his self-motivated, tenacious and confident approach make him a very worthy winner.”
Prior to joining the scheme, Lawrence studied a masters in electronics engineering and gained a distinction, leading to his first industry role as an operations engineer at ITV. He also volunteers as the engineering team leader at St Albans based community radio station Radio Verulam.
Lawrence Card added: “Winning the RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award is a great accolade and sense of achievement that I am proud of. I hope my enthusiasm and desire to win the award helps encourage others to both go the extra mile with everything they do and consider applying for the award themselves.”
BBC New Talent Tech Schemes programme manager Catherine Summer said: “Throughout the scheme, Lawrence has displayed an enthusiasm to harness new technology and provide the production teams with tools to enhance the way they engage audiences, and this determination and innovative thinking is why he’s thoroughly deserving of the Young Technologist award.”
The runner up and recipient of the Coffey Award for Excellence in Technology 2019 is Jake Brightman, Studios Technical Assistant at ITN. Jake became an apprentice at ITN in 2017 and went onto to secure a full-time role in ITN’s studios and technology department working across output for international clients including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery, NBC Universal and Netflix.
Netgem MD Sylvain Thevenot,added: “It was an honour to sponsor the RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award, and we were very impressed with the passion for TV and technical knowledge of the candidates. We are very supportive and grateful to the RTS for encouraging young talent in the UK TV industry.”
The Young Technologist Award was established by the RTS with funds received from the family of A.M. Beresford-Cooke – a distinguished engineer who contributed much to the development of British broadcasting technology through his work on towers and masts for VHF and UHF transmission. The aim of the award is to advance education in the science, practice, technology and art of television and its allied fields. The winner is awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to IBC in addition to an invitation to the RTS Cambridge Convention 2019, while the runner-up receives the Coffey Award and a technical book of choice.
The RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award 2019 will be presented to the winner at the RTS Craft & Design Awards, which will take place on Monday 25 November at the London Hilton on Park Lane.