British Academy Children's Awards 2010

• PREVIOUS BAFTA WINNER BARNEY HARWOOD TO HOST AWARDS
• PERFORMER AND COMEDY CATEGORIES ADDED TO LINE-UP
• LAST YEAR’S WINNER RICHARD HAMMOND NOMINATED AGAIN FOR BLAST LAB
• PEPPA PIG RECEIVES SIXTH NOMINATION
• VOTING FOR BAFTA KIDS’ VOTE OPENS TODAY

The Awards are hosted for the first time by popular children’s presenter Barney Harwood, who previously won in the Presenter category in 2007 for Smile. The Awards are a celebration of the very best in children’s media including television, film, video games and online.

The nominations comprise all aspects of children’s entertainment: Animation, Channel of the Year, Drama, Entertainment, Factual, Feature Film, Independent Production Company, Interactive, International, Learning – Primary, Learning – Secondary, Pre-school Animation, Pre-school Live Action, Presenter, Short Form, Video Game and Writer. This year, two new categories have been added: Comedy and Performer.

This year's Drama nominations include The Boy From Before, the story of a dispossessed boy who unknowingly befriends the ghost of a boy from the 1940’s; Tracy Beaker Returns; the children's sci-fi series The Sarah Jane Adventures and Roy, about the animated son of a real life family settling in to his new school. In the new Comedy category Big Babies is nominated alongside Horrible Histories, The Legend of Dick and Dom and children’s comedy sketch show Sorry I’ve Got No Head.

In the Feature Film category Fantastic Mr. Fox goes head to head with Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and two animated films from Disney/Pixar: Toy Story 3 and Up.

Meanwhile, Richard Hammond is nominated for the second consecutive year in the category of Presenter for Blast Lab, along with Iain Stirling and Phil Fletcher (Hacker the Dog) for their CBBC presentation and Blue Peter’s Andy Akinwolere. Justin Fletcher, who presents Something Special, is also nominated and has a second nomination in the new Performer category for his work in Gigglebiz. His fellow Performer nominees include both Dani Harmer and Richard Wisker for Tracy Beaker Returns; and Jim Howick for Horrible Histories.

From Horrid Henry to Doctor Who: Dreamland, Escape From Scorpion Island to Election: Your Vote, Junior MasterChef to ZingZillas, The Penguins of Madagascar to Science of Scams and Phineas and Ferb to Peppa Pig , this year’s nominations once again reflect the wonderful originality and creativity of children’s entertainment and programming.

In addition, this year’s Awards also welcome back the BAFTA Kids’ Vote where children get to have their say across a whole range of entertainment media in a nationwide poll to choose their favourite Film, Television Programme, Website and Video Game. Children aged between 7 and 14 years can place their votes via www.baftakidsvote.org Last year over 425,000 votes were received.

Voting for the BAFTA Kids’ Vote opens today (25 October 2010), and closes at 18.00 on Friday 26 November 2010.

The 2010 Awards will also feature the results of BAFTA’s new video game initiative BAFTA Young Game Designers, where children were encouraged to create their own video games. The winner will be announced at the Awards.

This is the fifth year of the Academy’s successful partnership with Electronic Arts.

For further information, please contact:

Romley Davies Publicity

Print and Broadcast:
Mia A. Farrell - E: [email protected] / T: 0203 301 4735
Laura Hopps - E: [email protected] / T: 0203 301 4732

Digital:
Claire Lewis - E: [email protected] / T: 0203 301 4744

For red carpet and press room accreditation on the night please email Laura Hopps clearly stating your name, organisation and access required.

Notes to Editor:

About BAFTA

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public. In addition to its Awards ceremonies, BAFTA has a year-round Learning & Events programme that offers unique access to some of the world’s most inspiring talent through workshops, masterclasses, lectures and mentoring schemes, connecting with audiences of all ages and backgrounds across the UK, Los Angeles and New York. BAFTA relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations, trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. For further information, visit www.bafta.org.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA Mobile™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO, and The Sims are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Mac, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Wii and the Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About the BAFTA KIDS’ VOTE