A striking S4C documentary about the brilliant young rock climber, Ioan Doyle, has won the Spirit of the Festival award at the 2009 Celtic Media Festival.
Dringo i’r Eitha’ (Climbing to the Limits), a programme in the Wynebau Newydd series, was awarded the Festival’s premier accolade in a special ceremony held in Caernarfon on Friday, 27 March. S4C also won four other awards at the Festival.
Dringo i’r Eitha’, produced and directed by Alun Hughes for Cwmni Da, follows the 16-year-old climber from Bethesda, Gwynedd, as he faces a series of rock climbing challenges. Ioan is seen tackling E5 (Extreme 5) climbs in Snowdonia, the island of Kalymnos, Greece and the Yosemite Valley, California, USA.
Another S4C programme from the Y Byd ar Bedwar stable won the Current Affairs category. Produced by ITV Cymru Wales, Y Byd ar Bedwar: Heroin is a powerful portrayal of a Cardiff couple addicted to heroin.
The S4C drama about a family of gangsters from West Wales, Y Pris won the Drama category. The series, produced by Fiction Factory, returns to S4C on 2 April. Written by Tim Price, the series stars a host of top names including Matthew Gravelle and Nia Roberts.
S4C won an award for its on screen promotional campaign for the 2008 Six Nations’ Championship: England v Wales. The short trailer was produced for S4C by JM Creative. The campaign also won the gold award at the Promax UK awards last November.
The Kieran Hegarty Award for Interactivity was awarded to S4C’s website, Cyw, which accompanies S4C’s comprehensive service for young viewers. The website - www.s4c.co.uk/cyw - was designed by Cube Interactive.
Rhian Gibson, S4C Director of Commissioning, said, “We are very pleased that S4C’s programmes and services have been recognised with these awards at the Celtic Media Festival. The winning programmes were among the highlights of an exciting year of programming on S4C. I would like to congratulate all the talented teams across Wales involved in producing these programmes and services”
