Isle of Man Newspapers has teamed up with 3fm to provide live video and streaming coverage of this year’s Awards for Excellence awards night, which takes place next Thursday at the Villa Marina.

Ron Berry, 3fm managing director, said: ’We were very happy to get involved this year because as a company we have been in the multimedia space for over a year now.

’The radio station is still the heart of our business, that’s what 3fm is all about, but we are looking to the future and expanding the services that we offer.’

The process of becoming more of a multimedia company saw 3fm engage with UCM earlier this year and take on two students, Ed Leeming and Aaron Cottam, to work on video production. Ed has since been taken on full time by 3fm and both he and Aaron will be part of the production team working on Awards night coverage.

Ron went on: ’For the Awards for Excellence, we’re going to be there at the very start of the evening, talking to people as they come into the Villa on the red carpet. We’ll also be at the Sefton and the Claremont pre-show receptions. This will be live on our Facebook page.

’Then, when the evening starts, we go backstage into a studio in the Villa where we’ll be fronting up the interviews on the live stream. We’ll be bringing our professional presenters, Matt Fletcher, Tony James and Jason Quinn into the studio to interview people alongside Isle of Man Newspapers editor Richard Butt.’

Interviewees will include DED Minister Laurence Skelly, Microgaming chief Roger Raatgever and Chris Allen, president of the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce. The theme of this segment of the coverage will be promoting the Isle of Man as a place to live and work to all the people who are watching from around the world.

Ron added: ’We can use this as an opportunity to say that the Isle of Man is a great place to live and the Awards for Excellence are a showcase for how great it is to do business on the island.

’We will also be interviewing the winners as they come off the stage and these will be available live on the 3fm Isle of Man and Isle of Man Newspapers Facebook pages.’

Trudi Williamson, the deputy chairman of Isle of Man Newspapers, said: ’Winning or being a finalist at the Awards for Excellence means so much to people taking part and the awards night is always such an entertaining and inspiring occasion, showcasing the very best of our island, that we are delighted to be able to share some of the atmosphere with everyone via our live stream.’

To watch the live stream visit www.iomtoday.co.im or www.excellence-awards.im on November 16 and you will find links to take you there.