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Shortlist announced for Older People in the Media Awards

Independent Age and Barchester Healthcare are thrilled to announce this year’s full shortlist for the Older People in the Media Awards. We received hundreds of nominations this year and getting down to the final shortlist was an incredibly difficult task for the team.

We were hugely impressed by the breadth of work we read, saw and listened to and would like to thank all nominees – whether they made the shortlist or not - for all their hard work in bringing the issues older people face to the forefront of the media agenda.

We’ll be announcing the winners at a glittering awards ceremony, hosted by Gavin and Stacey’s very own silver fox, Larry Lamb, on Tuesday 19 November.

The Awards will culminate in an overall “winner of winners” award.  

Shortlist

Category 1: Best factual newspaper or magazine article about older people's issues

  • Daily Mail: Catalogue of abuse that killed off the care pathway, by Daniel Martin.
  • The Guardian, G2: 60 things I’ve learned at 60, by Ian Martin
  • The Guardian, Family: Did I do the right thing? by Louise Smith
  • The Guardian, Weekend: When elderly care goes wrong, by Amelia Gentleman
  • The Independent: Over the hill? Come to Bexhill, where  life begins at 100, by Liam O’Brien
  • The Times: At 105, there are shades of grey but Ida’s love stories are always chaste, by Simon de Bruxelles
  • The Sunday Times: I tried, Mum: they don’t want your benefits back, by James Gillespie
  • The Times Magazine, The grey best-dressed list 2012 by Polly Vernon, Prue White and Brendan Freeman.

Category 2: Best factual radio programme about older people’s issues

  • Food Programme, BBC Radio 4: food on a pension
  • Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4: older women’s style
  • The Why Factor, BBC World Service: ageing
  • Anna King, BBC Radio Gloucestershire: are you ageist?
  • Julia George, BBC RadioKent: Is old age something to dread, or can it be fun?
  • Mark Murphy, BBC Radio Suffolk: The BIG Conversation – Older workers

Category 3: Best factual TV programme about older people’s issues

  • BBC1: Panorama, Elderly care: Condition critical?
  • BBC1: Panorama, Old, drunk and disorderly?
  • BBC1: Inside OutLondon, Elderly Care
  • BBC1: Golden Oldies
  • Channel 4: Dispatches: Undercover retirement home

Category 4a: Best factual new media content (written) about older people’s issues

  • The Guardian, Comment is free: How old age became a fashion trend, by Sarah Ditum
  • Darren Gormley: Making dementia care personal
  • The Quietus: Rock of ages: Mick Jagger at 70 and the rise of pop’s elders, by David Stubbs
  • The Huffington Post: 10 most common misconceptions about ageing, by Sarah O’Meara

Category 4b: Best factual new media content (video) about older people’s issues

  • BBC News, Magazine (online): getting inside a man’s shed, by Dean Arnett
  • BBC News, Magazine (online): Meet the world’s oldest hip hop dance crew, by Mauricio Olmedo-Perez
  • BBC News, Magazine (online): 91-year-old DJ: “It’s changed my life”, by John Galliver and Sophie van Brugen
  • Social Care Institute for Excellence: getting to know the person with dementia – the impact of diagnosis
  • Inside out of mind: raising awareness of dementia care through theatre,NottinghamUniversity
  • The Anchor Community Band, See Yourself, Charity single

Category 5: Best coverage of issues around dementia (Barchester Healthcare special award)

  • You and Yours, BBC Radio 4: Dementia dogs
  • Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2: GPS tracking of dementia patients
  • The Independent on Sunday: Britainunprepared for ‘tsunami’ of dementia patients, by Sarah Morrison
  • The Sunday Times: My mother and dementia, by Richard Girling
  • BBC RadioKent, the Dementia Diaries
  • ITV Central: Support for families of people living with dementia 


Category 6: Best independent voice on older people’s issues (Independent Age special award)

  • Dr Ros Altmann
  • Beth Britton
  • Richard Humphries
  • Professor David Oliver
  • Paul Burstow MP
  • Pippa Kelly


 Category 7: Best older person’s character in a film, TV or radio drama (Gransnet special award, voted on by the readers of Gransnet)

  • Derek Jacobi for Alan in Last Tango inHalifax
  • Anne Reid for Celia in Last Tango inHalifax
  • Ann Mitchell for Cora Cross in EastEnders
  • Kevin Whately for Robbie Lewis in Lewis
  • Stephanie Cole for Sylvia Goodwin inCoronation Street
  • Sue Johnston for Gloria Price inCoronation Street
  • Una Stubbs for Mrs Hudson in Sherlock Holmes
  • Sunny Ormonde for Lilian in The Archers
  • Alison Steadman for Rose in The Syndicate and Pauline Paradise in Love and Marriage
  • Brendan O'Carroll for Mrs Brown in Mrs Brown's Boys.


Category 8: Best use of photography to illustrate older people’s issues

  • Silver Heroes, by Karsten Thormaehlen. Photos of 25 older, active sports enthusiasts doing what they love
  • Positive images of old age, by Muriel Gallan. Muriel has captured images of older people continuing with the activities they love, which show that growing older doesn’t necessarily mean slowing down
  • The long goodbye, by Susan Falzone. Haunting pictures capturing the final days of Susan’s aunt with Alzheimer’s, published by the Daily Mail
  • Dazed and Confused, cover image and article featuring 91-year-old Iris Apfel, by Jeff Bark
  • The art of ageing, by Fausto Podavini. A poignant series of photos drawing us into the intimate lives of an Italian couple grappling with the husband’s Alzheimer’s. Featured in an exhibition at Somerset House and carried in the London Evening Standard
  • Sun City, by Kendrick Brinson. A series of photos documenting the lives of a community of pensioners who are living life to the full inArizona’sSun City, carried by the Daily Mail


Category 9: ‘The Thorn Award’: worst example of stereotyping, factual error or misleading information in the coverage of older people’s issues.

  • The Japanese Deputy Prime Minister, recommending that “old people should hurry up and die”
  • Alan Titchmarsh, suggesting that women should stop “whingeing” about ageism in television
  • Nick Robertson, Asos  CEO, for suggesting his high-profile fashion director had quit because she was too old for the online clothes business at 56
  • Doctor Who fans for dubbing Peter Capaldi “too old” to play the Time Lord.