Premier Christian Radio has been presented with a gold medal at the New York Festival Awards for an episode of its new interfaith debate show, Unbelievable.

The winning programme features a live call in and regularly brings together leading scholars from Christian and non-Christian backgrounds to tackle some of the most complex aspects of belief.

Long time Premier staff member, Justin Brierley, produced and presented the award winning show on evolution that features atheist Pete Hearty of the National Secular Society defending the theory of Evolution, while Peter Williams of the Damaris Trust argues for Intelligent Design.

"We chose this particular debate because it is timely." Brierley said. "There are a number of court cases in the USA discussing what public schools should be teaching regarding evolution and similar heat is now being generated in the UK over schools that have included Intelligent Design on their syllabus."

|QUOTE|The evolution episode of Unbelievable has secured the programme it's first award, within a year of going to broadcast.

Obviously thrilled, Brierley said, "For us to win an award so early on in the life of the show is wonderful, but for it to be a gold world medal at the New York Festival Awards is astounding."

Brierley previously left Premier's Breakfast Crew earlier this year to work on the live Saturday show, Unbelievable.

Premier's Chief Executive, Peter Kerridge said, "Unbelievable is like nothing else on Premier. For us, the show is about opening up dialogues with other faith groups and focusing on those giant issues we all have questions about."