BAFTAs can now be revoked if the winner commits a crime

It’s 2024, and the BAFTA Awards are tougher on serious crime and “proven dishonesty” than the U.S. presidential election. And you know what? Sure. It honestly makes sense at this point. 

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts just announced that starting in 2025, winners could be stripped of their awards in cases of “proven dishonesty and the very rare instance of a winner being convicted of a serious criminal offense resulting in a prison sentence” (via The Hollywood Reporter). This move—and resultant “forfeiture process”—was inspired by former BBC News host Huw Edwards, who pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in July. Edwards won seven BAFTA Cymru awards (the organization’s Welsh branch) between 2002 and 2017.

“Earlier this year, we were shocked by the news of the former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards’ arrest and subsequent conviction for child pornography offenses,” BAFTA chair Sara Putt wrote in a letter to Academy members this week. “Following the news, deeply complex questions were raised regarding historic awards won by individuals and specifically, whether awards won in competition should ever be removed retrospectively.”

The body concluded that the answer to these questions was yes, but only starting next year after new language had been added to the rule books. The organization thought “very carefully about whether we could try to apply this criteria retrospectively now… [but] agreed it would be impossible to do this properly. So we will look forward and apply this criteria to all competitive awards presented from 2025 onwards,” Putt wrote. That means Edwards—and any offenders before him—will keep their statues. 

“No solution is perfect and there may be instances where the outcomes of this review are tested in the future, so we will review these principles and processes along with our other awards rules every year,” Putt concluded. Now let’s try to add some of that same language to the constitution.