Bafta to pause kids TV awards for 2020

Bafta is to pause The British Academy Children’s Awards for 2020 and will “focus resources into a thorough review of its children’s activity, as well as looking at new ways to support and celebrate the industry.”

Helen Blakeman will continue as chair of the Children’s committee and existing committee members will stay on for a further year to oversee the process, which will involve consultation with industry figures.

Bafta has said that the review will look into:

Ensuring the Awards remain relevant to both the industry and its audiences
Reviewing all categories and identifying where categories are duplicated across other BAFTA awards ceremonies
Reaching a wider public audience
Fully recognising the content that children are viewing
Involving children’s voices
Engaging the industry and raising the profile of the ceremony
Increase the funding available for children’s activity
Ensuring content from both 2019 and 2020 are recognised in 2021

Chair of the Children’s committee, Helen Blakeman, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to ensure the BAFTA’s children’s activity recognises the breadth and depth of the content children are viewing today. We are hoping to bring more children’s voices into activity, ensure all crafts are recognised, and engage the industry, increasing the support BAFTA is able to offer to the children’s media industry. The renewed commitment from BAFTA demonstrates their long-term dedication to the children’s sector, and I look forward to shaping this exciting new chapter alongside my committee members.”

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive at BAFTA, said: “We have been reviewing all of our activity to ensure it delivers against our core aim of bringing the transformative power of film, games and television to everyone. This is an exciting opportunity for BAFTA and the industry to re-imagine BAFTA’s work in this sector and come out of the review with a renewed commitment and clear strategic objectives for our children’s activity. We conducted a similar review for the BAFTA Games Awards in 2008, and have seen this ceremony go from strength-to-strength.”