He has been up close and personal with some of the planet's scariest and ugliest creatures. But, Sir David Attenborough confessed at Monday night's Sony Radio Awards ceremony, as he collected the Gold for Speech Broadcaster of the Year: "Radio terrifies me."

What may now terrify radio souls is coming up against a national treasure in an awards category. Awards are notoriously subjective beasts, with shortlists often dividing judging panels into tiffs, standoffs or a compromise decision. How much easier, then, you might suppose, to cluster around a name that has everyone purring: Attenborough saw off Melvyn Bragg, Victoria Derbyshire and Nick Ferrrari – the latter was up for five Sonys but left without any Gold awards.

There are grumblings, too, about Jarvis Cocker winning the Sony DAB Rising Star category, voted for by the public. How can he be deemed a rising star, the grumblers mutter, even if he's new to radio? More pressingly, how can lesser-known presenters, such as Silk FM's James Lister and Dave Chipman – also nominated – hope to compete?

The short answer is, they probably can't, just as Nick Ferrari stands helpless at the sidelines while the communicating genius of Attenborough moves into new broadcasting territory. For what the Sony results show is that its categories are supple enough to encompass the many things radio can be. Sure, Cocker won a newcomer prize for his terrific 6 Music show, but last year it was won by a singing travel reporter.

I liked other eclectic nomination nooks. Kiss 100, which deservedly won Station of the Year (1 million plus) nestled next to BBC Radio Wales in the shortlist. In News Journalist of the Year, Gold went to Lyse Doucet followed by Silver to Andover Sound, a station with a teensy budget and territory. The well-known names and programmes hog the limelight, but the longer Sony nomination lists show radio – local, national, commercial, community and BBC – to be thriving, and full of surprises.