The winners and runners up of Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) Young Female Broadcaster of the Year competition were announced on Wednesday at Lord’s at the England v New Zealand Vitality women’s T20 International.
The inaugural competition, supported by Sky Sports and leading cricket charity Take Her Lead, was launched in May to increase opportunities for young women looking to forge a career in the cricket media, following the huge growth in the women’s game including record-breaking attendances and TV audiences for last summer’s England v Australia Ashes series.
Following strong interest in the competition and many high-quality showreel submissions, the judging panel selected Regina Suddahazai and Jessica Crowe as joint winners. The panel was chaired by Isa Guha and made up of MCC President Mark Nicholas, MCC Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Katie Maier, Director of Cricket at Sky Sports, Bryan Henderson and broadcasters Mark Butcher, Alison Mitchell and Jacqueline Shepherd.
Regina, from Crawley in Sussex who has worked for online content platform Cricket District and Jessica from Leicestershire who has gained presenting experience as part of The Hundred, were joined by four shortlisted runners-up, Laura Barraclough, Polly Starkie, Sam Hurst and Mary Neale-Smith at Lord’s as guests of MCC for last night’s match.
During their visit, they enjoyed a tour of the Ground and the J.P. Morgan Media Centre, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and took part in a mentoring workshop led by Isa Guha. They were also invited to sit in on the BBC’s pre-match production meeting, gaining valuable insight into match day broadcast production activities.
They also had the chance to spend time in the President’s Suite to meet and get broadcasting tips and advice from Mark Nicholas. Both Regina and Jessica will be back at Lord’s in August to be part of the Sky Sports broadcast team for The Hundred Final – the prize for winning the competition.
Regina Suddahazai said: “Being selected as a winner of this competition and coming to Lord’s to have this experience and meet Isa and Mark Nicholas has been unreal. I’m really grateful and thrilled for the opportunity and can’t wait to come back in August for The Hundred Final.
Jessica Crowe commented: “I’m delighted to be a winner of this year’s competition. An opportunity like this is not something I take for granted and I am so excited to see where it leads me. I’ve always grown up around cricket so to be here and meet Isa was incredible.”
Former England international, broadcaster and Founder of Take Her Lead, Isa Guha, commented: “It’s been great to be part of such a vital campaign and see the interest that it has generated. It was a pleasure to meet the winners and runners-up today at Lord’s, spend some time with them and hopefully pass on some useful advice from my own experience of being a broadcaster. It is so important that these opportunities are available to young women.”
Katie Maier, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at MCC, added: “We have been delighted with the response to the competition with fantastic support from the cricket community, and it was great to welcome Regina, Jessica and our runners-up to the Lord’s WT20I to give them a memorable experience. MCC is committed to improving opportunities for females at all levels and areas of the game and we hope this campaign has opened up opportunities for more young females, who we know are still underrepresented in the industry.”
Bryan Henderson, Director of Cricket, Sky Sports, said: “The standard of showreels and entries was extremely high and everyone who made the shortlist showed creativity, originality and a strong knowledge and passion for cricket and broadcasting. It just shows the quality of female broadcast talent that’s out there. It was a really tough decision to choose our winners but we’re looking forward to welcoming both Regina and Jessica to the Sky Sports team for The Hundred Final in August.”
With thanks to the MCC
