BBC Collaboration, 1943: Berlin Blitz wins Best VR Experience

VR Education are pleased to announce that their collaboration with the BBC was named Best VR Experience at the Digital Broadcast Awards 2019.

One judge described the experience as “an excellent use of archive mixed with modern, immersive technology”, while another called it “a great use of immersive sounds and visuals that brings archive to life – giving it new purpose, reach and educational use”.

1943: Berlin Blitz was originally launched in October on the Oculus and Steam stores. The experience documents the RAF bombing of during the Berlin Blitz. Throughout the experience, viewers will hear archive audio from the BBC war reporter, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and sound recordist, Reg Pidsley as they report from their terrifying mission over Berlin.

We created this experience in collaboration with BBC Northern Ireland and the BBC VR Hub to mark the 100th anniversary of the RAF and also to document the groundbreaking journalism from the past.

We’re delighted that 1943: Berlin Blitz won the Best VR Experience. We were delighted to be part of this collaboration. We believe that virtual reality has the power to create experiences that are otherwise impossible such as this. The combination of archived audio and new technology is what really makes experiences like this special.

David Whelan, CEO, Immersive VR Education

The BBC is currently bringing their VR experiences to the public by setting up location-based experiences to libraries around the UK. You can find out more about the Berlin Blitz here.