Huw John The winners of the British Academy Cymru Awards in 2014 have been announced.
Y Gwyll / Hinterland and Sherlock win three awards each. Sherlock wins hotly contested Television Drama award. Tom Riley wins Best Actor, Rhian Blythe wins Best Actress. Highlights programme broadcast on S4C for the first time.
Sunday 26 October 2014: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in Wales, BAFTA Cymru, has tonight announced the winners of the 23rd annual British Academy Cymru Awards at its annual celebration of excellence in broadcasting and production in Wales.
At a glamourous red carpet event at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, a star-studded line-up of presenters including Katherine Jenkins, Savjeev Bhaskar, Trystan Gravelle, Amy Beth Hayes and Tom Cullen were joined by the Cymru Awards’ host, Jason Mohammad.
For the first time, the ceremony was televised with a one-hour highlights programme broadcast on S4C at 9.30pm.
Guests and viewers alike were treated to a rousing performance by classical singer Katherine Jenkins, who took to the stage to perform the track ‘Sanctus’ from her new album, Home Sweet Home.
This year’s British Academy Cymru Awards were dominated by independent productions with television drama the standout winner on the night as Wales’ home-grown productions for both UK and worldwide audiences made their mark.
Noir crime drama Y Gwyll / Hinterland received three awards, including Director Fiction for Marc Evans, Writer for Jeff Murphy and Photography and Lighting for Richard Stoddard. It was Sherlock, though, that triumphed in the hotly contested Television Drama category, claiming the award ahead of Y Gwyll / Hinterland and Stella. The detective drama also received two craft awards. There were also craft award wins for Doctor Who, The Indian Doctor and 35 Diwrnod.
The Best Actor award was presented to Tom Riley for his lead role in fantasy drama Da Vinci’s Demons, while Best Actress went to Rhian Blythe for her performance as Grug Matthews in school-based drama Gwaith/Cartref.
The recent success of Wales’ film industry was also celebrated with Playing Burton receiving the award for Feature / TV Film and director Keri Collins accepting the Breakthrough Award for his directorial debut, Convenience.
Television news and documentary coverage were well represented on the night with the moving documentary on alcoholism, O’r Galon – Yr Hardys: Un Dydd ar y Tro receiving the award for Single Documentary. Swansea-based workplace documentary The Call Centre won the Factual Series award while Dylan Wyn Richards took home the award for Director Factual for his documentary on historian Dr John Davies, Gwirionedd y Galon. Griff Rhys Jones received the Presenter award for A Great Welsh Adventure with Griff Rhys Jones.
This year’s award for News Coverage went to the ITV News Cymru Wales team for their coverage of the Mark Bridger Verdict. ITV Cymru Wales also triumphed in the Current Affairs category for its Y Byd ar Bedwar on the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.
Broadcast sport and music also featured with Y Clwb Rygbi being awarded Sport and Live OB, Dim Byd receiving the award for Music and Entertainment and Cardiff Singer of the World winning the award for Sound.
Animated children’s series NiDiNi 2 was named best Children’s Programme while short form drama, The Portrait, received the Short Form and Animation award. Ryan Owen Eddleston won the Photography Factual award for his work on Timeshift: The Poet Who Loved the War - Ivor Gurney.
Three BAFTA Cymru Special Awards were presented on the night. Wales’ First Minister, Carwyn Jones, took to the stage to present acclaimed Welsh journalist and BBC Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, with the Siân Phillips Award, an accolade presented annually to a Welsh man or woman who has made a significant contribution to international feature filmmaking or network television.
Welsh producer and writer Colin Thomas awarded the Gwyn Alf Williams Award to Green Bay for their production The Miners’ Strike - A Personal Memoir by Kim Howells. The Award is given annually to a programme or series of programmes which have contributed to the understanding and appreciation of the history of Wales.
The BAFTA Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television was presented to much-loved actress Nerys Hughes, best known for her role in television sitcom The Liver Birds. The Award was presented by actor John Ogwen, who won the same award in 2004.
In all, 28 programme, craft and performance categories were awarded this year to honour excellence in broadcasting and production within Film and Television in Wales between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014.
A Welsh translation of this press release is available here >
About BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 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 an international, year-round programme of learning events and initiatives that offers unique access to some of the world’s most inspiring talent through workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes, connecting with audiences of all ages and backgrounds across the UK, Los Angeles and New York.
BAFTA Wales – or BAFTA Cymru – extends the Academy’s charitable mission across the UK in support of Wales’ creative communities. The highlight of BAFTA’s events calendar in Wales is the annual British Academy Cymru Awards, an independent platform showcasing the work that truly reflects the best of the country across film, television and games, making a difference to those producing creative work as well as those watching it.
BAFTA relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations, trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. To access the best creative minds in film, TV and games production, visit www.bafta.org/guru. For more information, visit www.bafta.org.
