17th September 2003


The Mental Health Media Awards 2003, now in its 10th year, has announced the shortlist for the seven award categories.

Twenty short-listed entries from the broadcast media will face the judges in the final round of the 2003 awards. The winners of each category will be announced, and the awards presented at the Mental Health Media Awards 2003 ceremony, Tuesday 7th October 2003 at BAFTA, London.

The shortlisting panel looked for inspiring and informed broadcasts that portrayed mental health problems and issues in a fair, accurate and sensitive way. Entries were shortlisted because they challenged their audiences' preconceptions, confronted common myths and misconceptions about mental distress, and avoided negative and damaging stereotypes. Shortlisters rewarded broadcasts that gave mental health service users and survivors a platform upon which the experience of living with a mental health diagnosis could be voiced.

Shortlisted entries in the Single Drama & Drama Serial include the BBC's gritty 'Out of Control' (BBC Films for BBC One) starring Tamzin Outhwaite, an improvised drama which focuses on the lives of three teenagers sent to a young offenders' institution, and Channel 4's 'Bodily Harm' (Tiger Aspect Productions for Channel 4), starring Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville, which tells the powerful story of a regular, suburban family compelled to confront the emotional demons hidden in their past.

The full shortlist is as follows:

TV & Radio News
Channel 4 News: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (ITN for Channel 4 News)
Channel 5 News: Read the Signs (ITN for Five News)
Channel 4 News: Breaking the Circles of Fear (ITN for Channel 4 News)
Sky News: Read the Signs (BSKYB for Sky News)
BBC Radio 5 Live: Simon Mayo (BBC for BBC Radio 5 Live)

TV Documentary
Make Me a Man (RDF Media for Channel 4)
Young Offenders: Ep. 4 Series 2 (Carlton Television for the Central Region)
West Eye View: Bitter Pill (A Carlton Production for the West of England (HTV West))
Panorama: The Secrets of Seroxat & Seroxat: Emails from the Edge (BBC for BBC One)

Factual Radio
Medical Matters: Hearing Voices (BBC Radio Scotland for Radio Scotland)
Woman's Hour: Mental Health, Medication & Pregnancy (BBC for BBC Radio 4)
Between Ourselves: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (BBC Radio & Music Factual for BBC Radio 4)
Good Morning Devon: What Happened to James (BBC for BBC Radio Devon)

Single Drama & Drama Serial
Bodily Harm (Tiger Aspect Productions for Channel 4)
Out of Control (BBC Films for BBC One)

Soaps & Drama Series
No entries shortlisted

Radio Drama
Radio 4 Afternoon Play: Kon-Tiki 2 Expedition (BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 4)
Radio 4 Afternoon Play: Look No More Backward (BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 4)
Radio 4 Afternoon Play: Lost in Space (BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 4)

Public Information Campaign
Read the Signs: Carlton City Survival Guide (Carlton for ITV)
See Me Scotland (See Me…)

Notes for Editors

1. For further details please contact Katie Brudenell on 020 7700 8171 or email
katie.brudenell@mhmedia.com

2. The Mental Health Media Awards will be presented at 6.30pm on Tuesday 7th October 2003 at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London, W1V 0LN

3. The 2003 Judges are:

Jane Drabble, OBE
Donna Franceschild, BAFTA award-winning writer
Roger Graef, Films of Record
James McAteer, Media Trainer
Liz Main, Journalist & member of the Broadcast & Creative Industries Disability Network.
Jenni Murray, Writer and Broadcaster (Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4)
Premila Trivedi, SIMBA (Share in Maudsley Black Action)
Caroline Raphael, Commissioning Editor, Drama and Entertainment, BBC Radio 4

4. The Mental Health Media Awards, now in their 10th year recognise the best in reporting and portrayals of mental health issues.

5. Mental Health Media is in its 40th year, and is a unique communications organisation which challenges discrimination around mental health by promoting the voice of mental health service users in all media.

6. Mental Health Media offers a range of video and new media training materials, provides media skills training courses, runs the annual Mental Health Media Awards and works with journalists and broadcasters to inform their coverage of mental health issues.

7. Mental Health Media can be contacted on 0207 700 8171.

8. www.mhmedia.com / info@mhmedia.com