TV presenter and broadcaster Fiona Armstrong has been given a special award in recognition of her long and distinguished career in television.

Fiona, who used to present Lookaround on ITV Border, was honoured with the Outstanding

Contribution award in recognition of her long and distinguished career in television at the Royal Television Society North East and Border Awards.

Fiona worked for for Border TV for about 20 years as well as ITN and GMTV in the early 1990s.

She has also worked for the BBC news channel, as well as making independent programmes.

Rising stars of the TV industry received awards recognising achievements in broadcast journalism, production, writing and technical skills, at the event on Saturday night at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead Hotel.

ITV Tyne Tees and Border newscaster Pam Royle - who presents Lookaround - won Best Presenter.

Among the student category winners were Chloe Boston of Carlisle College for her short feature, University of Cumbria (factual), Teesside University (drama and animation) and University of Sunderland (news and entertainment).

Chloe's tutor Edward Cooper, at Carlisle College, said Chloe's achievements were "amazing".

There were breakthrough awards for BBC reporter Philippa Goymer, animator Michael Gandham from Arcus Animation Studios and broadcast news graduate Alice Whinney.

Chair of the awards, Graeme Thompson, who is Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Sunderland said: "This year’s ceremony showcased the next generation of TV and digital talent. And the great thing about these winning entries is the confidence and new ideas exhibited across the categories. We are delighted to be able to recognise these new players who are the future leaders of the sector."

Young people from the Northern Stars Academy based at Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema won the Best Commercial category for Sportivate – a promotional film about boxing on Teesside. Also nominated for awards were the young cast and production team from The Dumping Ground, made by CBBC in the North East.

Other big winners on the night were the ITV drama Vera which picked up Best Drama and Best Performance for its star Brenda Blethyn.

The BBC’s Dan Farthing was named Best Journalist. ITV Tyne Tees won Best News Programme and the award for Best Factual went to the BBC for its documentary The Gift of Hearing.

And there was a special award for veteran BBC outside broadcast director Alan Farrington – who has also directed all 30 of the RTS North East awards.

More than 400 guests attended the sell-out event hosted by Jayne Secker of Sky News. It was the 30th anniversary of the awards ceremony.

Among the guests in the audience at Gateshead were Steve Cram and Allison Curbishley from BBC Sport, Oscar-winning film producer David Parfitt, TV historian Michael Wood, RTS chief executive Theresa Wise and Emmerdale actors Laura Norton and Isabel Hodgins.