Wildscreen announces 2022 Panda Awards winners

Wildscreen has announced the winners of their 2022 Panda Awards, which took place on 13 October at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, showcasing the best in natural world storytelling craft from across the world.

My Garden of a Thousand Bees, a charming lockdown documentary, following wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, received the most prestigious prize in the natural world film and television industry – the Plimsoll Golden Panda Award. The feature film, which explores the secret lives of over 60 species of bees, swept the nominations, tying with The Green Planet for the number of categories back in July. This comes at a time when Karine Aigner won the Grand Title award at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year ceremony earlier this week, for an outstanding picture capturing male cactus bees enveloping a single female.

Terra Mater Studios and Bonne Pioche’s The Bastard King received a special jury award – the Panda in the Pocket, to recognise outstanding storytelling, alongside the category in which it was nominated – the Music Award. Shining a light on the threats to the elusive Florida Panther, Eric Bendick’s Path of the Panther, received awards for both categories it was nominated for, taking home the Save Our Seas Foundation Impact Award, and the Off the Fence Production Team Award.

The first ever winner of the Sustainability Award, Springwatch 2021, was recognised for the continued work and innovative measures to reduce their production’s carbon footprint. The jury awarded The Watches team this prize to help set the bar for blue chip productions. The Green Planet walked away with the coveted Terra Mater Studios Series Award.

“As a key part of Wildscreen Festival for 40 years, the Panda Awards has continued to celebrate the best in natural world storytelling among the globe’s leading innovators and creators, as well as fresh talent entering the sector,” said Lucie Muir, Wildscreen’s CEO. “This year’s inspiring selection of shorts, features and series uncovered some of nature’s most fascinating and enduring stories, bringing them to a worldwide audience. Congratulations to everyone who was recognised and we look forward to seeing the evolution of natural world storytelling over the next few years.”

On the night, special awards were given to recognise members of the industry for their positive impact on the natural storytelling community. Jeff Wilson, series producer at Silverback and the Chair of the Festival Advisory Board presented the Outstanding Achievement Award to production management teams everywhere for being at the heart of production. Also, the Lifetime Achievement Award was posthumously presented to the late Miles Barton, a BAFTA award-winning series producer at BBC Natural History Unit Studios. Janet Han Vissering, Sr. Vice President, Program Development and Production at National Geographic, was awarded the Chris Parsons’ Outstanding Achievement Award 2022 by Bertie Gregory, wildlife TV presenter and Laura Marshall, CEO of Icon Films.

The Wildscreen Panda Awards ceremony 2022 was hosted by wildlife television presenters Lizzie Daly and Dan O’Neill. The ceremony concludes the 2022 Wildscreen Festival–the world’s biggest global gathering of natural world storytellers. Held in Bristol, the 40th anniversary edition convenes more than 1000 filmmakers, photographers, broadcasters and content creators, from over 40 countries, for an unrivaled programme of 130 events, featuring 180 industry thought-leaders. The headline sponsor of Wildscreen Festival 2022 is BBC Studios Natural History Unit and principal sponsors are National Geographic, Save Our Seas Foundation and Terra Mater Studios.

The full list of Wildscreen Panda Award winners is:

BEHAVIOUR AWARD

My Garden of a Thousand Bees (UK)
Passion Planet, the WNET Group, HHMI, Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films

FILMS AT 59 CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD

Polar Bear (UK)
Silverback Films

DELUXE EDITING AWARD

My Garden of a Thousand Bees (UK) – Key Editor: Steve White
Passion Planet, the WNET Group, HHMI, Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films

TANGLED BANK STUDIOS EMERGING TALENT AWARD

Snakes & Ladders (UK, Israel)
University of the West of England

SAVE OUR SEAS FOUNDATION IMPACT AWARD

Path of the Panther (US)
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures

MUSIC AWARD

The Bastard King (Austria, Germany, France) – Key Credits for Music: Laurent Garnier, Pierre LeFeuvre
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films

UWE ON-SCREEN TALENT AWARD

Tiger 24 (US)
W Films, The Tiger Fund

PHOTO STORY AWARD

Historical rescue of Caimans in Pantanal (Brazil) – Photographer: Fernando Jara Faciole 

EMERGING TALENT PHOTO STORY AWARD

The Lwiro Reserve (DRC) – Photographer: Guerchom Ndebo 

CVP PRODUCER/DIRECTOR AWARD

My Garden of a Thousand Bees (UK)
Passion Planet, the WNET Group, HHMI, Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films

OFF THE FENCE PRODUCTION TEAM AWARD

Path of the Panther (US)
Grizzly Creek Films, Wildpath, Common Pictures
Production team: Production Team: Eric Bendick, Carlton Ward Jr., Tori Linder, Thomas Winston, Jeff Reed, Malia Byrtus, Danny Schmidt, Dawson Dunning, Rick Smith, Katie Bryden, Andrew Harrison Brown, Scott Sterling, Ashley Siana, Alex Freeze, Kevin Matley, Brian Eimer, Lauren Yoho, George McKenzie Jr.

SCRIPTED NARRATIVE AWARD

Penguin Town: Hot and Bothered (South Africa) – Key Scriptwriter: Andy Mitchell
Netflix, Red Rock Films

TERRA MATER STUDIOS SERIES AWARD

The Green Planet (UK)
BBC Studios, PBS, bilibili, ZDF, China Media Group CCTV9, France Televisions, The Open University

FILMS AT 59 SOUND AWARD

Welcome to Earth: The Silent Roar (UK) – Key Sound Credits: Sam Castleton, Tom Foster, Jay Price, Phil Bax, Sean Millar, Parker Brown
Nutopia

AURUM SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

Springwatch 2021 (UK)
BBC Studios Natural History Unit

PANDA IN THE POCKET AWARD

The Bastard King (Austria, Germany, France)
Terra Mater Studios, Bonne Pioche, Shibumi Films

PLIMSOLL GOLDEN PANDA AWARD

My Garden of a Thousand Bees (UK)
Passion Planet, the WNET Group, HHMI, Tangled Bank Studios in association with Ammonite Films

SPECIAL AWARDS

FESTIVAL ADVISORY BOARD OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Production management teams everywhere.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The late Miles Barton, a BAFTA award-winning series producer at BBC Natural History Unit Studios.

CHRIS PARSONS’ OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2022

Janet Han Vissering, Sr. Vice President, Programme Development and Production at National Geographic.