Whisper won the prestigious Broadcast Best Sports Programme for our Paralympic Games Paris 2024 output for Channel 4, which delivered over 1300 hours of live sport across 12 days, as the whole industry gathered in London to celebrate the best of the British broadcast sector.
The award is further recognition for Whisper’s pioneering approach, ability to work with multiple partners, and deliver telling and creative content at quality and scale.
The coverage seamlessly brought together journalistic excellence and entertaining content. Anchored by broadcasting great, Clare Balding, and the first ever deaf presenter in live sports, Rose Ayling-Ellis, creative and innovative storytelling brought the action, athletes and must-see moments to the fore, as well as addressing emerging news stories and tackling issues. Further analysis and insight were provided by registered blind analyst, Libby Clegg, and Paralympic legend and accessibility campaigner, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson
Whisper pioneered an ambitious and immersive approach with presentation from across Paris, with four purpose-built sets at Stade de France, La Dèfense Arena and Pont Alexandre III to be as close to the sporting action as possible, as well as at the Athletes’ Village and Paralympics GB House to capture athlete and family reactions and stories.
There was a huge emphasis on creative storytelling, showcasing athletes and giving audiences reasons to care and engage. This was underpinned by Whisper’s sport meets entertainment approach, using the likes of Bafta-winning Lenny Rush, Sex Education star George Robinson, Gladiator’s Jodie Ounsley, and Radio 1’s Vick Hope. This was critical in helping tell stories from a different perspective and reach new and younger audiences, with the share of 16-34 year-olds surpassing coverage of London 2012.
Whisper was determined to make this production as accessible and representative as possible. In addition to 91% of on-screen talent and 23% of the production team being disabled, the remote galleries and production teams were based in Cardiff in Whisper’s purpose-built and state-of-the-art Cymru Broadcast Centre (CBC) – the most accessible production facility in the UK.
The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 was the biggest sports production to come out of Wales, proving Whisper’s commitment to CBC is helping create a sustainable media hub in Cardiff, with the Whisper Cymru Academy providing training and employment opportunities.
It is a fantastic endorsement from Broadcast that this holistic and thoughtful approach to producing sports programming, which delivers great content executed to the highest of standards at the same time as creating new models of accessibility was recognised by the judges.
