BAFTA to Strip Awards From Winners Found Guilty of Crimes

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will introduce new rules next year that will allow it to revoke awards if they are found guilty of crimes, the Hollywood Reporter reports.

BAFTA chairwoman Sarah Putt announced the mechanism for revoking awards developed by the academy. It was prepared after former BBC News presenter Hugh Edwards was found guilty of creating indecent images of children this year.

‘Earlier this year, we were shocked to learn of the arrest of former BBC News presenter Hugh Edwards and his subsequent conviction on child pornography charges. He had won seven individual BAFTA Cymru (Welsh BAFTA) awards for television broadcasts between 2002 and 2017. Following this news, very difficult questions have been raised, including whether the awards can be cancelled retrospectively,’ Putt wrote in a letter to BAFTA members.

She explained that starting from 2025, the BAFTA awards rules will include a procedure for cancelling awards with specific guidelines on what can lead to this. In particular, the award will be withdrawn if the winner is ‘found guilty of a serious criminal offence resulting in imprisonment’.