Former ITV Executive Laurie Upshon has been awarded the Royal Television Society’s top honour. Upshon, who now runs his own media consultancy at Kemerton near Tewkesbury, was presented with the Society’s Baird Medal at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham at the weekend. The Medal is the society’s most prestigious award and is given annually for an outstanding contribution to the television industry in the region. The previous winners in the last five years have been Chris Tarrant, John Craven, Bob Monkhouse, Peter Harris (director of the Muppet Show) and Jasper Carrott.
Upshon, who retired as Controller of News and Operations at ITV Central, now runs a media consultancy company. He is a Fellow of the RTS and a previous chairman of the Society’s Midlands Centre.
He began his career as a journalist on newspapers in London before moving to Southern Television in Southampton 30 years ago. He moved to Central in 1985 as Editor of Central News. He was one of the key figures in the creation of the Central South News Service in 1989 for which he won the national technology award from the RTS. He has also won programming awards from the society and also international awards for breaking news coverage and technical innovation. He was appointed to the Board of Central Independent Television plc in 1993.
He said: “It is a tremendous honour. To see your name listed alongside television legends like Bob Monkhouse, Jasper Carrott and John Craven is quite a shock!”