London – The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the winners for the annual British Academy Children’s Awards. The ceremony was hosted by Doc Brown at the Roundhouse, London and presenters included Samantha Barks, Sharleen Spiteri, Bernard Cribbins, Myleene Klass, Emma Bunton, Jamal Edwards, James Norton, Simon Webbe and Malorie Blackman.
It has been a successful week for the team behind Katie Morag after picking up a British Academy Scotland Award last Sunday; they won two BAFTAs Children’s ceremony. The first Award was in the Drama category and the second for Performer with Cherry Campbell taking home the BAFTA for her portrayal of the title role. Campbell becomes the youngest BAFTA winner ever at nine years old.
Double-act Dick & Dom – Richard McCourt & Dominic Wood – celebrated winning in the Presenter category for Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom, while another of their shows, Diddy Movies, picked up the BAFTA in the Comedy category.
Kindle Entertainment Ltd triumphed as the winners of Independent Production Company of the Year and as part of the team behind Dixi, the online mystery-drama that took home the BAFTA for Interactive – Original.
For the first time, Cartoon Network won the BAFTA in the prestigious Channel of the Year category while one of its most popular shows, Adventure Time, celebrated a win for International.
The Short Form category was won for the third year in a row by CITV’s Share a Story. There was a consecutive win for the Operation Ouch! team, who picked up the BAFTA for Factual. Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep received a second BAFTA award for Animation.
Warner Bros.’ adventure-comedy The Lego Movie fought off stiff competition from Maleficent, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Frozen to triumph in Feature Film. The Game category was won by Mario Kart 8, the latest instalment of the popular racing title.
Peter Firmin received the Special Award for his outstanding contribution to children’s media. The esteemed illustrator and puppet-maker was presented the Award by Bernard Cribbins, and received a special introduction from Michael Palin.
The results of the BAFTA Kids’ Vote were also announced at the ceremony. Over 200,000 votes were cast by seven to 14 year-olds who had their say in a nationwide poll to choose their favourite film, television programme, website and game. The winners in the four categories were: Frozen (Feature Film), Jessie (Television), Minecraft (Game) and Bin Weevils (Website).
Other winners on the night were: Disney Animated for Interactive – Adapted; Lizard Girl for Learning: Primary; Poetry: Between the Lines for Learning: Secondary; Old Jack’s Boat for Pre-school Live Action; Sarah & Duck for Pre-school Animation; Junior Bake Off for Entertainment; and Debbie Moon who won the Writer category for Wolfblood.
