The countdown to next year’s BAFTA Television Craft Awards and the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises on 28 April and 12 May respectively begins today, with entries for the 2024 editions officially open. Celebrating the exceptional storytelling, creativity and craft of British and international television and the people who bring it to life, the two ceremonies span 47 competitive awards categories, from costume design, composing and casting, to writing, editing and directing across all TV genres.
The eligibility criteria and voting rules are reviewed and updated annually by BAFTA’s Television Committee, made up of industry leaders from across the sector. The key changes to the rulebooks this year are as follows:
BAFTA Television Awards
Eligibility Changes
Daytime
- The Daytime category was introduced in 2021 to raise the profile of this historically under- recognised genre. Previously, eligibility was defined by high volume and returnability, not by scheduling, with entrants choosing one episode to represent the series – as is the case for all BAFTA’s competitive awards. From 2024, entered episodes must be transmitted between 09:00 – 18:00 to be eligible, reflecting the relevance and importance of this category to linear broadcasting.
Entertainment Performance
- From 2024, two people will be eligible to be considered for Entertainment Performance as a pair if they have equal billing on their entered programme (and are entered together). This relaxes the previous requirement that pairs must be already recognised as a presenting duo to be eligible.
Category updates
As previously set out in the 2023 rulebook, categories with under 20 entries will see three, rather than the standard four nominations announced, or alternatively, categories may be merged in order to run. On this basis, two updates have been made to the 2024 edition:
- Limited Drama is a new category for scripted one-off programmes or series that tell a complete story over 1-19 episodes, replacing separate categories for Single Drama and Mini-Series. The introduction of Limited Drama maintains the opportunity for single self-contained films to be eligible following a decline in entries to the Single Drama category in recent years (Drama Series category remains unchanged).
- Sport and Live Event Coverage brings together Sports Coverage and Live Event coverage.
Three category names have been updated and renamed (eligibility and voting criteria will remain the same):
- Soap & Continuing Drama is now defined as Soap
- Reality and Constructed Factual is now defined as Reality
- Features is now defined as Factual Entertainment
Cross-Awards activity
UK-based productions will be required to provide information about meeting BFI's new Diversity Standards as BAFTA’s eligibility criteria for all UK productions looks to transition from a minimum of two (Standard C + 1) to three in the coming years, to include the BFI’s new diversity Standard E (accessibility).
All UK-based productions will be required to have a policy in place on tackling bullying and harassment in order to be eligible to enter. To support this rule change, free guidance and policy templates will be available on Creative UK in the coming weeks. This new intervention, first announced in December 2022, builds on BAFTA’s long-standing work to help tackle bullying and harassment across the screen industries, and forms part of wider, ongoing collective cross-sector activity.
To ensure voters have as much time as possible to watch and consider entered work, the window for submitting work has been brought forward. Communications with voting members will be refined and tailored by craft specialism to encourage the broadest range of work possible to be viewed and considered by voters.
BAFTA’s guiding principles for its awards are to celebrate creative excellence, level the playing field, provide a fair and robust process, and encourage positive industry change. Earlier this year, 4.4 million people watched Kate Winslet, Lenny Rush, David Olusoga and Meera Syal among a host of creative talent on-and-off-screen take home awards via BBC One’s coverage of the BAFTA Television Awards 2023 (up 2.8% on 2022’s broadcast), alongside 11 million people via social media.
As previously announced, Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning at UKTV, was elected chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee earlier this year. She said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee - there’s no other art form that is so creatively ambitious and yet so accessible; the stories on TV travel further than any other cultural medium. We've listened and engaged closely with our peers and have responded to wider industry trends in setting this year’s eligibility, category and voting rules, which are reviewed annually. At a time when recognition of creative efforts on-and-off screen is needed more than ever, BAFTA’s awards are an important showcase of the ingenuity and talents of those who bring TV to life.”
The P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award will also return, honouring the impact of television in the UK and its power to entertain, inform and bring the nation together – looking back at key moments from 2023 that inspired and moved audiences at home. In 2023, the P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award, the only award voted for by the public, was won by Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace Paddington meets the Queen. A public vote will open in early March 2024 when nominations are announced. Key dates as outlined in the rulebook are as follows:
- March 2024 – P&O Cruises Memorable Moment nominations announced
- Wednesday 20 March 2024 – Television Awards and Television Craft nominations announced
- Sunday 28 April 2024 – BAFTA Television Craft Awards
- Sunday 12 May 2024 – BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises
Entered programmes and performances must be transmitted between 1 January and 31 December 2023 to be eligible. A comprehensive overview of entry information including rules and eligibility requirements can be found on BAFTA’s Awards webpage here.
-ENDS-
For more information, please contact:
Dingile Kasote, Press Officer
Notes to Editors
- BAFTA’s adoption of the BFI’s Diversity Standards was first announced in 2016 here
- Details of BAFTA’s Television Committee can be found here
About BAFTA
BAFTA – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts - is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia – BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For more, visit www.bafta.org. BAFTA is a registered charity (no. 216726).
About P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises is Britain’s favourite cruise line, welcoming guests to experience holidays with a blend of discovery, choice, relaxation and exceptional service catered towards British tastes. Each of the seven ships has its own appeal from family friendly or exclusively for adults. With over 200 destinations worldwide, P&O Cruises itineraries are carefully curated to inspire discovery and are varied to suit newcomers and experienced guests alike.
Arvia joined the P&O Cruises fleet in December 2022 as the second LNG-powered, Excel-class ship embodying the newest trends in travel, dining and entertainment. Arvia offers a Caribbean/winter season of fly-cruise holidays from homeport Barbados and Mediterranean holidays from Southampton during the summer.
P&O Cruises works with the best of the best including Gary Barlow who is music director of The 710 Club on Arvia and Iona and has delivered a number of unique musical moments on board. Crafted to Gary’s creative vision, The 710 Club showcases an eclectic range of performances and offers an opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to get their break. Gary also joins guests for exclusive performances on Arvia and Iona holidays. Multi award-winning performer Nicole Scherzinger will be the creative force behind contemporary and breath-taking late night shows to be performed in SkyDome on board Iona and Arvia and P&O Cruises Food Heroes include chefs Marco Pierre White, Jose Pizarro, Shivi Ramoutar and Kjartan Skjelde who has created Norwegian speciality dishes, as well as award-winning drinks expert Olly Smith.
Recent awards for P&O Cruises include:
British Travel Awards Winner 21/22 – Best Cruise Line for Family Holidays.
Cruise Critic Editors’ Picks Awards Winner 2022 – Best for Families.
The company is part of Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE:CUK).