The Educate North Awards, which were originally planned to be hosted on September 30th, have been moved to March 2021 at The Midland Hotel, Manchester.
The awards were created by Rob McLoughlin, the award-winning broadcaster and producer, and the full shortlist was revealed earlier in the year. They also encompass the University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG), a business competition now planned to take place online in Autumn 2020.
For more details, see the Prolific North website.
Saturday’s Virtual Grand National, which ran on ITV, has raised £2.6 million for NHS Charities.
The race, which was produced by Rob McLoughlin’s Carm Productions, attracted 4.3 million viewers, a 28% audience share. The bookmakers are set to donate £2.6 million to NHS Charities Together, the umbrella organisation which represents more than 140 NHS charities.
Read more on the Prolific North website.
This year’s Virtual Grand National replaced the real thing and was broadcast on ITV on Saturday, 4 April.
The result was a win for Potters Corner, which bookies had given odds of 18-1. The race was a huge success, with major coverage on national media and even some of the jockies – who would have taken part in the real thing – commenting on social media as the race was run.
The Virtual Grand National was produced by Carm Productions, run by Rob McLoughlin.
For more on the race results, visit the BBC Sports website.
With this year’s Aintree Grand National cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Virtual Grand National has galloped to the rescue to replace it.
This computer-version of the famous race is produced by Carm Productions and is created using advanced computer graphics and sophisticated algorithms to predict the outcome based on data about the runners.
The Virtual Grand National has been run each year since 2017 alongside the real thing and has a consistently good record of predicting the winners. This year’s virtual race features Aintree legends Red Rum and Tiger Roll against the other competitors.
Carm executive producer Rob McLoughlin grew up in Maghull, near Aintree. This is a project close to his heart. “We use the latest CGI technology and algorithms and were ready to go ahead as a forerunner to the big race, but now we want to cheer the nation up and ask the computer if history could have been made.”
The Virtual Grand National will be broadcast by ITV at 5.00pm on April 4, 2020. More details and how to watch the race, visit the ITV website here.
The north of England’s prestigious Educate North Awards, due to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester, have been postponed until September 2020.
Awards founded Rob McLoughlin stated: “In light of government advice over Coronavirus and to protect our teams and guests it was essential to make this change.”
“The event is a sell-out and we hope the new date will see nominees and supporters come together to mark the success of this sector at this very difficult time for the North and the country.”
For more details, see the Prolific North news story.