The countdown to next year’s BAFTA Television Craft Awards and the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises begins, with the categories, eligibility, voting rules and timeline both unveiled today. Entries are now officially open.
Celebrating the exceptional storytelling, creativity and craft of British and international television and the people who bring it to life on-and-off screen, the two ceremonies span 49 competitive awards categories, from casting, photography and editing, to writing, performing and directing across all TV genres.
Earlier this year, 2.7 million people watched the ceremony on BBC One and iPlayer alongside over 7 million views of BAFTA’s social media coverage of the night. Happy Valley, Top Boy and The Sixth Commandment led the wins.
BAFTA reviews all aspects of its awards annually with BAFTA’s Television Committee and sector peers. Its guiding principles are to celebrate creative excellence, level the playing field, provide a fair and robust process, encourage positive change, and evolve alongside the ever-changing industry landscape.
Key Changes
- As previously announced, three new categories – a Children’s Scripted Award, a Children’s Non-Scripted Award, and a Children’s Craft Team Award – will be introduced into next year’s BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises, and BAFTA Television Craft Awards. The introduction of these categories marks the next phase of plans to profile the very best of films, games and television for children and families to global audiences across BAFTA’s awards ceremonies.
- An expanded Entertainment category in the BAFTA Television Awards will include comedy entertainment moving forwards; representing the very best in chat, game, panel and talent shows, as well as music specials, and stand-up and comedy clip shows.
- The voting process for Live Event, News Coverage, Soap, and Sports Coverage has been updated. From 2025, all BAFTA Television voters will determine the nominations and the winners of the most nationally viewed genres of programming.
- UK-based productions will be required to provide information on their efforts to ensure representation and inclusive practices on-and-off screen as part of ongoing efforts to improve the diversity and culture of the screen industries. Whilst this is not a new policy, having been first introduced into the BAFTA Television Awards in 2020 using the British Film Institute’s Diversity Standards, the information asked of productions has, for 2025, been refined to ensure BAFTA’s analysis and subsequent activities to help tackle areas of underrepresentation are relevant and impactful.
Key dates
- Thursday 26 September: Entries Open
- March 2025: P&O Cruises Memorable Moment nominations
- Thursday 27 March 2025: BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises and BAFTA Television Craft nominations
- Sunday 27 April 2025: BAFTA Television Craft Awards
- Sunday 11 May 2025: BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises
Hilary Rosen, chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee, said: “After a year in which television led conversations across the country and around the world – whether live events, dramas or news coverage – it’s thrilling to once again open entries for Britain’s biggest celebration of the small screen. This is a rulebook which puts our beloved children’s television industry back in the spotlight and increases the number of categories determined by our 5,800-strong TV voting membership whilst reflecting wider industry changes decided in consultation with our sector peers. We’re an industry powered by extraordinary creative talent, so we can’t wait to celebrate the achievements of the story tellers and programme makers who bring their ideas to life on our screens, next spring.”
