Michael Christian, one of the two radio announcers involved in the disastrous royal prank call months ago, was awarded on Tuesday by his radio bosses at Southern Cross Austereo.

The award, which hails Mr. Christian as the "next top jock", was met with negative reactions, though.

Federal Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, had openly slammed the award saying it was highly inappropriate and untimely.

It can be recalled that last December, while pinch hitting for the radio program Hot 30, Mr. Christian and his prank partner Mel Greig made a phone call to the King Edward VII hospital in London to fish out details on Kate Middleton's pregnancy. The dutchess was at the time being checked by nurses for morning sickness.

During the call, Mr. Christian mimicked Prince Charles while Ms. Greig pretended to be the Queen.

A nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, 46, received their call but refused to disclose any information. She instead transferred the call to the dutchess' room where another nurse on duty provided all the details.

Three days later, Ms. Saldanha was found hanged.

''I think there's a bit of bad taste involved there,'' Mr. Conroy said of Christian's award.

''There were some very serious consequences of what was a prank and to be seen to be rewarding people so soon after such an event, I think, is just in bad taste.''

Of the two jocks, Ms. Greig is said to be the one still suffering guilt over their prank and the nurse's death. She has since been disconnected from work by the owners of the radio station.

"The producers [also involved in the prank] and MC [Christian] aren't having much contact with Mel anymore and it seems as though everyone has gone back to work as though nothing has happened," a source revealed to the Adelaide's Sunday Mail.

Ms. Greig is also the only one who has expressed willingness to travel to London to testify at the inquest of Ms. Saldanha in September.

Meanwhile, Southern Cross Austereo seems unperturbed by the condemnation across the globe. Instead, they expressed excitement over Christian's award which he is sharing with Ellie Mobbs, morning host at Sydney's 2Day FM.

Mr. Christian, too, sounds unaffected by the biting criticisms and judgment. He approaches the award as if nothing happened.

"From the start, I felt like I had something to prove to myself ... Regardless of all that's happened in the past few months, I'm still at the top of my game. So it felt good to see my name at the top of the final leader board!" he said in a released statement.

"If this competition has taught me anything, it's that there's a LOT of talent in this company. Plus it's given all our announcers access to ideas, ways of thinking and people we might [not] normally have day-to-day contact with."

Part of Mr. Christian's victory is his trip to Los Angeles for a tour of the city's leading radio stations.

Members of the judging panel included Southern Cross Austereo's head of content Craig Bruce, 2Day FM content director Derek Bagwanna and Fox FM content director Dave Cameron.