Presenter Vallisa Chauhan has thanked listeners and colleagues as she picked up her first Best Radio Show honour at the Asian Media Awards.
The stars of radio, TV and broadcasting gathered at the 11th AMA ceremony at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Friday (27 October).
The awards, which are supported by the University of Salford, celebrated winners in a range of categories in journalism, stage, online and creative media and were hosted by Magic FM’s Neev Spencer.
Those honoured on the night included broadcaster Tina Daheley, LBC presenter Sangita Myska and Mihir Bose who received the Outstanding Contribution to Media Award.
This year Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar were recognised with the Sophiya Haque Services to Television, Film and Theatre Award.
Shabaz Ali who takes merciless aim at the seemingly spoilt, the weird and the bizarre on Tiktok picked up the Best Video Channel accolade whilst Polite Society star, Priya Kansara was named Best Newcomer.
Vallisa Chauhan won her first Asian Media Award for her Breakfast show on Lyca Radio.
She was presented the honour on the night by Raj Somaiya who is a judge on the Ultimate Wedding Planner TV show.
Within a short space of time, Vallisa has helped to reinvent the show with her own brand of music and chat.
Vallisa said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic I’ve been nominated in various categories in previous years but I feel like 2023 was the year I evolved as a presenter I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and it paid off.
“A huge thank you to the Asian Media Awards team for always putting on a phenomenal event and for always supporting the creatives and a massive thank you to my boss Raj Baddhan for always being so supportive of my career and giving me such great opportunities.
“I feel it is always an honour to be acknowledged for what you do the nomination itself is a great privilege and I would urge the younger generation to follow their dreams no matter how little or large they seem.”
The show now said to boast nearly 50,000 listeners weekly, and Vallisa is complimented daily for the choice of music and interactions with listeners as they head to work.
The show is focussed about towards different audiences with the early morning section dedicated to the older audience.
She later plays upbeat Bollywood and Bhangra songs on the school run journey. Vallisa also gives out a wealth of information throughout the show including entertainment news from the world of Bollywood, 60 second headlines taking listeners through the headlines of the day and talking about the top trends of the day. More recently the show was hosted live from Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the IIFA awards.
This year’s Asian Media Awards winners were announced at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Friday October 27.
Previous recipients of an Asian Media Award include Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Waris Hussein, Art Malik, Mehdi Hasan, Nina Wadia, Anita Rani, Shobna Gulati, Faisal Islam, Adil Ray & Lisa Aziz.
The University of Salford are Premier Partners to the Asian Media Awards.
Partners to the awards include ITV, EssenceMediaCom, Reach PLC & Women In Journalism.
The awards are also supported by Manchester Metropolitan University, AMT Lawyers, DKR Accountants, Opus Broadband, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Fritz AV, Payal Events & Cleartwo.
