BAFTA Announces Casting Awards for Film and Television

BAFTA becomes first major film awards ceremony to honor the casting community

We're delighted to announce that the British Academy has become the first major film ceremony to add a casting category to its BAFTA film awards in 2020! The awards will recognise achievements in the craft of casting and its importance in film-making.

The award comes after renewed campaigning from the industry to honor the casting community. 

We're so thrilled with this news - Spotlight has campaigned for the recognition of casting directors for almost 20 years. Casting directors bring characters to life with their casting choices, and this will finally celebrate their skills. Thanks to BAFTA for leading the way with this announcement - we're excited to see which other film ceremonies will follow in their footsteps.

BAFTA’s Awards exist to recognize excellence across the industry and we are delighted this year to be including the highly skilled work of casting directors for the first time. Casting is essential to the screen industries, and vital in terms of promoting diversity and inclusion on-screen. We hope this Award will also help to promote an understanding of casting and look forward to seeing who will be the first winner in February.

I am delighted that a casting award will be introduced at both the Film and Television Craft Awards this year, it is a great honor for our industry to be recognized by BAFTA and I look forward to seeing many deserving, talented casting professionals receive the award in the years to come. I would like to thank BAFTA on behalf of casting directors across the world, it is terrific news for our profession.