S Poddar
BAFTA has now confirmed that the awards won by the former news presenter Huw Edwards through its scheme will not be revoked after he was convicted recently. He pleaded guilty in September to three counts of possessing indecent images of children and received a suspended sentence. Edwards’ achievements at the BAFTA Cymru awards had put him under the review, but the recent statement put forth by BAFTA clarified his award will not be revoked.
BAFTA members were issued a letter from chair Sara Putt outlining the intentions of formalizing the process in 2025 for the revocation of competitive awards. Here, it is destined to deal with entries which come to be found to be deceptive or illegal, or because the recipient of an award subsequently receives a sentence of three years’ imprisonment or more for a serious criminal offence which has already been served or a suspended sentence for it.
Given BAFTA’s nearly 80-year history, it was impossible to know where to hold the line on past awards rescinded,” Putt said. “Would we choose to only look back one, five or 50 years?” she asked. “The board decided that that was just impossible.”.
In the wake of the arrest and conviction of Edwards, the body “confess[ed] to being ‘shocked’ by events.” It has thrown up internal debates, which will not be the last, over whether past wins might or should be withdrawn. For all the chilling aspects of the Edwards case, however, Putt was keen to stress that “to this day BAFTA has never rescinded an award made at a competitive level-and this tradition will continue.”. However, honorary prizes, for instance, BAFTA fellowships or special recognition awards are awarded not competitively and thus can be withdrawn at the discretion of BAFTA. For instance, after several allegations made in 2021, BAFTA suspended the membership and revoked Noel Clarke’s outstanding contribution award to the industry.
It will only apply to competitive awards. What BAFTA dubbed as “exceptional grounds” for potentially reviewing and retracting awards, they will hopefully abolish. The policy therefore truly reflects a need for the objective treatment of conduct that calls for uniform action on similar issues arising in the future. As Putt puts it, BAFTA will review and adjust these guidelines each year to factor in future complexities. No solution is perfect, she acknowledged. Later cases would challenge the policies under scrutiny.
It was back in 2002 that Edwards, first time winner of a BAFTA Cymru award, won for his program Election Exchange, and has won dozens since. Other notable credentials he has are being one of the presenters on the BBC’s coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2012, for which he won his BAFTA. Edwards is confirmed to take that award home as well.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, while Edwards was being sentenced, it was revealed that he had paid some £1,500 to a man who had sent him 41 illegal images between December 2020 and August 2021. Seven out of these images were classified under highly serious categories. The children featured in the images were nearly all within the ages of 13 to 15 years, while one child depicted was aged between seven and nine years. Edwards was sentenced to stay in a sex offender treatment program suspended for 12 months, complete 25 rehabilitation sessions, undergo a restraining order for seven years that requires him to register as a sex offender, and pay £3,128 in costs and a victim surcharge. While Edwards’ BAFTA awards remain, the scandal pushes BAFTA to enact policies that would impact future winners who happen to commit serious offenses. By doing so, this organization attempts to balance acknowledgment of past achievements with the ethical standards of public figures working in the industry.
