17 October 2001

The edition of the Radio 4 programme, 'Taking A Stand' in which a clinical psychologist spoke out about his own experience of schizophrenia has won two of the nine Mental Health Media Awards which were announced tonight.

'Taking a Stand', which was broadcast in March of this year, won both the Factual Radio Award and the Survivor Award for Rufus May. Other award winners were Channel 4 News in the TV and Radio News category and Donovan Quick, which starred Colin Firth, for TV Drama.

'Taking A Stand' made a huge impact on a great number of people. A record number of people contacted the BBC after this programme. It shows the great need for people to share in and understand the experience of mental distress - without programmes like this, people feel unable to talk their own experiences, stay silent and become excluded. Programmes such as these challenge this silence, push the boundaries of programming and are at the core of what the Awards seeks to encourage' said Karen Mattison, Director of Mental Health Media.

The Mental Health Media Awards were presented on 17 October at BAFTA, by Tim Gardam, Head of Programmes, Channel 4.

The judges were David Brindle, The Guardian, Jane Drabble OBE, David Lloyd, Channel 4, Roger Graef, Films of Record, Roger Bolton, Presenter of Radio 4's 'Feedback' and 'Sunday' Programmes & an Independent Producer, Yasmin Anwar, Channel 4, Jo Kay, BBC Radio 4, David Crepaz-Keay, Mental Health Media, Jenni Murray, BBC Radio 4, Dr Phil Thomas, Consultant Psychiatrist, Vivien Lindow, Independent Consultant and Researcher, Daniel James, Mondo Designo and Jonathan Drori, Scient.com.


Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact Beate Kubitz or Kate Summerside on 020 7700 8171


The winners

Television and Radio News: Channel 4 News: Ethnic Minorities (ITN)

Television Documentary: Black Dog: A Depression Tale (BBC Documentaries)

Factual Radio: Taking a Stand: (BBC Radio)

Television Drama: Donovan Quick (Making Waves Film and Television Ltd for BBC Scotland)

Radio Drama: Depth of Field (BBC Radio Drama)

Public Information Campaign: Radio: Mind Matters: 96 Trent FM Careline (NCVS Communications)

Television: Stop Go Home (Channel 4)

Survivor Award: Rufus May - Taking a Stand (BBC Radio)

Website: Young Minds, www.youngminds.org.uk


Mental Health Media

Mental Health Media is a voluntary organisation which uses the media to promote people's voices, in order to reduce the discrimination and prejudice surrounding mental health and learning difficulties. We work to help journalists print and broadcast the voices of people who have experienced mental health problems.


Shortlisted

Television and Radio News

Newsnight: Teenage Suicides (BBC Newsnight)
Channel 4 News: Troubled Minds (Pillarbox Productions & ITN)
Channel 4 News: Ethnic Minorities (ITN)

Television Documentary

Black Dog: A Depression Tale (BBC Documentaries)
Twelve Men and a Boat (Bewick Films)
Wales this Week (HTV Wales)
Hitler's Biological Soldiers: Science and the Swastika (Darlow Smithson Productions)
Panorama: The Tranquilliser Trap (BBC News and Current Affairs)

Factual Radio

Gary Robertson: Personality Disorders (BBC Scotland)
Eye on Wales: The Siege (BBC Wales Current Affairs)
All in the Mind: Treatment of Homosexuality in the 60s and 70s (BBC Radio)
Taking a Stand: (BBC Radio)

Television Drama

Holby City: Tip of the Iceberg (BBC)
Doctors: Whose Fault is it Anyway (BBC Birmingham)
Donovan Quick (Making Waves Film and Television Ltd for BBC Scotland)
Losing It (Resource Base)

Radio Drama

Bye Bye Miss America High (BBC Radio Drama)
Depth of Field (BBC Radio Drama)
Ruth Ellis: The Son's Story (BBC Radio Drama)

Public Information Campaign

Mind Matters: 96 Trent FM Careline (NCVS Communications)
Stop Go Home (Channel 4)
On the Edge (BBC Factual and Learning)

Survivor Award

Michelle Caine - Wales this Week (HTV Wales)
Rufus May - Taking a Stand (BBC Radio)
Alison Cowan - Black Dog: A Depression Tale (BBC Documentaries)
Stephen Lapsley - Black Dog: A Depression Tale (BBC Documentaries)

Website

National Phobics Society www.phobics-society.org.uk
Mind Out for Mental Health www.mindout.net
Young Minds www.youngminds.org.uk
Channel 4: Stress www.channel4.com/stress