The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced a new award for best children's and family film.
The new prize category will “celebrate the very best films appealing to intergenerational audiences” and “profile the essential creative contributions of the children's media sector,” Bafta said in a statement.
Films that have a certificate rating of U, PG or 12A will be eligible for the award.
This is the first time in five years that Bafta has introduced a new prize category and it will be awarded starting from 2025 at the ceremony in February.
Bafta held the British Academy Children's Awards until last year when it was announced it would be folded and incorporated into the new prize category at the annual awards.
Which film awards have a children's prize category?
Currently, the other major film awards don't have a dedicated category for children's or family films.
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, and Hollywood's Golden Globe Awards have an animated feature prize which normally sees a “children's film” win but has no rating requirement.
The Guardian reports, however, that the Oscars will also soon be introducing a prize category for children's films.
Of the three main film festivals In Europe – Venice, Cannes and Berlin – only the latter has a section dedicated to cinema for young people.
Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus are two competition programmes. The members of the Children's and Youth Jurys are of the same age as the target audience and honour the best films with the Crystal Bears.
The European Film Academyintroduced a Young Audience Award in 2012 where three European films are shown to 12-14-year-old audiences across Europe.
The most comprehensive awards for children's films are held by the European Children's Film Association.
The Children Cinema Awards aims to “entertain our young audience with fun, colourful, diverse, positive and stimulating films that could help with broadening their imagination, creativity and development.”
“We also encourage young filmmakers and recognise their work, giving them the space to live their dream of seeing their films on the big screen,” the organisers write on their website.
The awards also have a special category for young filmmakers aged 18 and under.
Additional sources • BAFTA, Guardian
