For the first time, the Royal Television Society has named two winners of its annual Young Technologist of the Year award.
Jahreal Wright, user support specialist at Sky, and Jonathan Chappell-Seetayah, IP broadcast project engineer at Timeline TV, were both chosen to receive the award by a panel of industry judges.
Wright joined Sky’s Edit Operations Team as a trainee edit assistant and progressed into Workflow Supervising and managing a team of edit assistants. He then moved to the role of technical specialist with Sky’s Edit Support Team where he provided tech support for high profile sports and entertainment workflows, such as F1, Premier League and the Academy Awards. He recently became an Avid certified instructor for Media Composer. The jury praised Wright’s analytical and thoughtful approach, his excellent overview of the industry and focus on customer experience.
Chappell-Seetayah started his career at the BBC on its broadcast engineering degree apprenticeship, leading to his first role in BBC Major Projects implementing IP technology. Chappell-Seetayah then joined Timeline TV, facilitating BT Sport’s move to IP broadcasting through systems architecture, training tier-one engineers in IP and providing third-line support. The RTS Young Technologist of the Year jury was impressed by his drive to make production better and the importance of being part of this change and turning point within the industry.
The RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award runner-up and recipient of the Coffey Award for Excellence in Technology 2022 is Andrew Ware, junior support engineer at dock10. Ware joined dock10 in 2017 where he focuses on studio-based installations and productions across a diverse range of shows developing skills in a range of technologies, including UHD Sony camera systems and virtual studios camera tracking systems.
Chair of the RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award Jury, Terry Marsh, said: “Every year the standard of applications we receive continues to impress us, so much so that this year we took the decision to award two talented individuals with the RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award.
“Both Jahreal and Jonathan demonstrated to the jury not only the dynamic experience they have garnered so far in their careers, but the drive to move the industry and technology forwards and to be an integral part of the UK production community for years to come. Congratulations to Jahreal and Jonathan, and also to Andrew for receiving the Coffey Award.”
