Lorraine Kelly, Alex Graham and Tommy Gormley will be the recipients of this year’s Outstanding Contribution awards. Each will be recognised and presented their award at the British Academy Scotland Awards 2014 on Sunday 16 November at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu Hotel.
Having recently celebrated 30 years on breakfast television UK screens, Lorraine Kelly will be honoured with an award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. A UK household name and national treasure, Kelly got her start in media in 1983 after accepting a job offer with the East Kilbride News in favour of a university place reading English and Russian. She is best known as the much-loved presenter of ITV’s morning show Lorraine, which began as Lorraine Live on GMTV in 1994. In addition to hosting her popular morning show, Kelly writes weekly columns for The Sun and The Post. She is also the patron of charities Help for Heroes and Association of International Cancer Research.
Lorraine Kelly said: “It was a lovely and totally unexpected surprise to be told I was to receive such a prestigious award. I’m delighted and looking forward to a terrific evening. I feel very blessed and would like to thank BAFTA Scotland for such an incredible honour.”
The Outstanding Contribution to Craft award is to be presented to Tommy Gormley, a hugely successful and respected Hollywood First Assistant Director, best known for his work on such blockbusters as Mission Impossible III, Super 8 and Star Trek: Into Darkness. Glasgow-born, Gormley’s latest film, Star Wars: Episode VII, is currently in post-production and highly anticipated.
Tommy Gormley said: “I am thrilled and amazed to have been given this award by BAFTA Scotland – thank you! Being recognised in my home country means everything to me – it’s where I learned my craft and built my career. Scotland has an incredibly rich pool of talent and I hope that I can use any influence that I have in the industry to create and bring more film and television work to our beautiful country.”
Also being celebrated at the prestigious awards ceremony is Alex Graham, who will receive an award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting. Through the company he established in 1987, Wall to Wall Television Ltd., Graham has led the production of numerous popular and critically acclaimed television programmes including The Voice UK and Who Do You Think You Are? In 2009, Man on Wire, produced by Wall-to-Wall, won an Academy Award.
Alex Graham comments: “I was delighted when I heard I was to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting award at this year’s British Academy Scotland Awards. It’s very humbling to be honoured by one’s peers – and in this case my fellow Scots! I can’t wait for what is no doubt going to be a fantastic evening.”
In addition to these awards, 19 trophies will be handed out at the ceremony. Due to a high number of entries in the acting categories, male and female performances have been separated in both film and television categories for the first time.
The British Academy Scotland Awards is one of the biggest nights in Scotland’s calendar and is renowned for welcoming and honouring an impressive line-up of stars. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by television presenter Hazel Irvine and will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on Sunday 16 November.
Jude MacLaverty, Director of BAFTA Scotland, said: “We are extremely proud to be celebrating the work of such prestigious names in the television, film and broadcasting industries. Lorraine Kelly, Alex Graham and Tommy Gormley are leaders in their fields and we are honoured to present these Outstanding Contribution awards to them. Along with the high calibre of nominees, this year’s British Academy Scotland Awards are gearing up to be our biggest and best yet.”
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For information on buying tickets or sponsorship opportunities, please visit the BAFTA Scotland website (www.bafta.org/scotland/) or call 0141 553 5402.
For further press information:
Kirsty Atkinson or Victoria Irvine at Wire Media
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