BBC local radio hosts win broadcasting award for grilling Liz Truss

Eight BBC local radio presenters are to share a broadcasting award for interviews with former Prime Minister Liz Truss last year.

The hosts grilled the then prime minister days after her mini-budget sparked turmoil in the economy.

The Broadcasting Press Guild said their interviews were "were game-changing for Liz Truss and her doomed government" and will award them its jury prize.

It comes as BBC local radio stations in England face cuts to their programmes.

Ms Truss faced tough questioning during the round of local radio interviews in September.

The eight interviewers are:

• Rima Ahmed, from BBC Radio Leeds

• James Hanson, from BBC Radio Bristol

• Graham Liver, from BBC Radio Lancashire

• Anna Cookson, from BBC Radio Kent

• John Acres from BBC Radio Stoke

• Chris Goreham, from BBC Radio Norfolk

• Sarah Julian, from BBC Radio Nottingham

• Amy Oakden, from BBC Radio Tees

Grant Tucker, who chairs the Broadcasting Press Guild, said: "As an organisation of journalists, the BPG is always among the first to see the value of great interviewing - and these BBC radio interviews were game-changing for Liz Truss and her doomed government.

"There is no doubt that the PM's feet were held to the fire in these eight radio sessions in a way that stood out among so much drama that was happening in British politics last summer."

The BBC's controller local audio commissioning, Chris Burns, said: "It really was an iconic moment in local radio and also for how we work digitally, as the interviews were then packaged up into the most popular Newscast episode of all time for BBC Sounds.

"Our presenters - as they always do - were speaking for the communities they serve, as well as the whole country when they asked those questions. That is the beauty of local audio.

"We are immensely proud of everything local BBC radio does and it's fantastic to see the work acknowledged with this award."

• Newscast - The Liz Truss BBC Local Radio Interviews

The BPG ceremony, in London later, comes a week after staff on the BBC's regional TV bulletins and local radio and online output in England staged a 24-hour strike over the corporation's plan for its 39 local radio stations in England to broadcast more merged shows in the afternoons, evenings and at weekends.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has said it will "undermine already hollowed out local-radio content across England".

But the BBC has said its proposal will "modernise local services across England - including more news journalists and a stronger local online service - which will see no overall reduction in staffing levels or local funding".