This year, our charity the Prison Radio Association was nominated for a six awards across six categories at the UK ARIAS (Audio and Radio Industry Awards).
And at last night’s ceremony we took home three awards, including two Golds for our very own Scout Tzofiya Bolton – poet, activist and now award-winning radio presenter.
Scout was crowned Best New Presenter at the 2025 ARIAS – the Oscars of the radio industry – on Wednesday evening. This is the third ARIA Gold the Prison Radio Association has received for Best New Presenter in four years, and the first time that a woman who first worked with us at HMP Styal has taken home a trophy.
The judges said Scout was ‘A natural born presenter who is equally at home in authored storytelling and music presentation – bringing a thoughtful poetic quality to her delivery.’
Scout presents the Rock Show on National Prison Radio. It was only last year that she left prison and now she is a Gold award-winning presenter.
Scout is a published poet who worked for National Prison Radio while serving a prison sentence at HMP Styal.
There she found ‘her people’ and she discovered a passion and talent she never knew she had and would have never explored had it not been for her sentence, and therefore National Prison Radio.
She is adored by her audience and has built an incredible relationship with the Rock Show family since she took over the show, by being her truly authentic self:
“Thank you Scout for playing my request, I love it so much, I love the Rock Show, you, all the Rock Show family.“
“Thank you Scout for all the good music you play and when people are in bad places, your show makes us happy and brings us back to life, and it’s so good to have the Rock Show presented by you.”
“Congratulations on your award nomination. It’s well deserved… Thank you, Scout, for everything you do to encourage us to be our strongest selves.”
After Scout’s release from prison, our producers Ellen and Andrew continued to work with Scout to produce a radio ballad for BBC Radio 4 – The Ballad of Scout and the Alcohol Tag. The programme is a blend of poetry, music and testimony, all created by Scout.
It’s the story of Scout’s relationship with alcohol, and with the tag that monitors her, told through Scout’s dazzling poetry and on Wednesday evening, this production was crowned Gold in The Creative or Technical Innovation Award category.
The judges said:
“Judges found the use of sound design to be both creative and innovative, particularly in how it enhanced the storytelling. The bold mixture of humour and poetry felt fresh.”
You can listen to that radio ballad here or read Scout’s recent article in The Guardian where she describes her experience with psychosis and her prison sentence here.
“A few years ago, I set out a few very clear goals in my head for our work in HMP Styal. I wanted a new studio and workshop space to support us in making brilliant radio, and I wanted one of the women working on National Prison Radio on the inside to one day win an ARIA. Last night, Scout Tzofiya Bolton won TWO GOLDS. I am delighted for her and couldn’t be more proud.” – Abbey Darling, Director of Women’s Projects at the Prison Radio Association
Other winners at the ARIAS 2025 included:
Last year’s Gold award winner for Best Specialist Music Show – Free Flow – won a Bronze award for Best Music Award at this year’s ARIAS.
Free Flow is hosted by the poet Lady Unchained and is supported by the Shannon Trust. She plays instrumentals to National Prison Radio listeners, encouraging them to write and perform lyrics along to the music. Listeners then call National Prison Radio’s freephone voicemail to record their bars, and Lady Unchained gives feedback and encouragement.
Free Flow has become an outlet for many people in prison and a community has been born from the show. You can read more about it here.
We are so thankful to the Radio Academy for this recognition. Receiving these awards and getting this industry recognition is so important to us because it continues to prove that we are not just a small organisation doing our thing in isolation, we are a registered charity that produces the highest quality audio work alongside some of the most talented presenters and producers, who just so happened to have spent time in prison.
If you would like to support our work and help us to continue providing opportunities for talented people leaving prison, you can make a donation here:
