Kyle & Jackie O, Ben Fordham collect wins at radio awards

The winners of the 2021 Australian Commercial Radio Awards have been announced, with Ben Fordham and Kyle & Jackie O walking away winners.

Fordham, 2GB’s breakfast host, has again taken home the award for Best Talk Presenter, marking his sixth win in the category. While he’s won the award multiple times, 2021 marks his first win since he moved to the breakfast slot.

Another mainstay of the awards is Kyle & Jackie O, who, for the seventh time have won the Best On-Air Team (Metro FM). Appearing on KIIS 106.5’s breakfast slot, Jackie ‘O’ Henderson also took home the award for Best Entertainment Presenter.

Other big wins this year include Joel Creasey, who won Best Newcomer On-Air after joining NOVA Entertainment’s Kate, Tim & Joel drive show a year ago. That show also won awards for Best Network Program and Best Syndicated Australian Program.

3AW’s Neil Mitchell and Tim Lane won Best Current Affairs Presenter and Best Sports Presenter respectively, while Chris ‘Becko’ Beckhouse won Best Music Presenter for his work at Triple M (he left the station this year and also started his own interview podcast).

Former triple J drive host Veronica Milsom won the award for Best Original Podcast with her podcast Zero Waste Baby, produced by Southern Cross Austereo.

The 2021 ACRAs were meant to go ahead in October, but were later moved to February and subsequently cancelled completely due to COVID-19 concerns.

Joan Warner, the outgoing chief executive officer of awards organiser Commercial Radio Australia, said the winners all produced great work despite obstacles presented by the pandemic.

“Congratulations to the winners who have displayed enormous dedication to their listeners and continue to drive live broadcasting to new levels,” Warner said.

“All the radio teams across metro and regional Australia should be very proud of the way they served their communities through the challenges of the past two years.”

View the full list of winners across all 39 categories here.