Rising star receives international double award for presenting work

Issy Brand (pictured on the right in photo) won Best Interview and was jointly awarded Best On-Air Team with fellow student Matt Hallsworth at this year’s International Student Broadcasting Championship (ISBC). Issy was also named the runner-up for the Rising Star Award in this year’s event.

The double win is a back-to-back success for Matt and Issy, who claimed the inaugural Best On-Air Team award in 2023 for their show ‘Matt and Issy at Breakfast’ which is broadcast on Shock Radio – one of the University’s two radio stations.

The competition, which is open to students from across the world, is judged by leading industry and educational professionals who are passionate about student broadcasting. It aims to find the best emerging talent in the world and promote them to the industry and potential employers on a global level.

The win is further recognition of Issy’s talented skills as a broadcaster with the third-year student also working as an Assistant Producer at Virgin Radio in London, which has led to opportunities to work on their national flagship programme, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show. In addition to producing and presenting her Drive Time show at Shock, one of the University’s key radio stations, she is also a semi-professional footballer for AFC Crewe.

Issy said: “Since starting at Salford, my overarching aim has just been to take every opportunity that comes my way. Whether that’s within the University itself and doing student radio with Matt, or finding work experience and getting a job off the back of it, everything feels within reach when you open your mind to it.

“The individual ISBC award for Best Interview is something that I’m very proud of. With that interview in particular, it held a very unique importance for me as I prepped as much as possible and to see the outcome of that gain recognition feels very special.

“Working with Matt is also an experience that I’m so grateful for. I continue to learn from him and I think we’ve grown together since we first started co-hosting in October 2023. We have won the Best On-Air Team award back to back now, and it’s a great confidence boost, re-iterating what we hope to be true in that we’re a good partnership.”

The partnership also received further acclaim recently as the duo picked up Best Chart Show Programming at the 2024 Student Radio Awards on a big night for Shock Radio that saw them take home eight awards.

Issy is now in the final year of her degree and is set on establishing herself as a broadcaster post-graduation.

She added: “I’m open to my future career, with hopes to do presenting in some capacity, whether that’s on radio or on screen but at the moment I’m happy to just be in the midst of some incredible people to learn from!”