Adie to be awarded BAFTA Fellowship
April 30, 2018
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that Kate Adie OBE, the award-winning broadcast journalist and author, will be honoured with the Fellowship at the Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards. The ceremony will be held at the Royal Festival Hall in London, on May 13th.
Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual, in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games across their career.
Fellows previously honoured for their work in television include Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Jon Snow, Bruce Forsyth, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Palin, Trevor MacDonald, David Attenborough, Julie Walters, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. Joanna Lumley received the Fellowship at last year’s Television Awards.
Jane Lush, Chair of BAFTA, said: “Kate Adie is a truly ground-breaking news journalist, being one of a very small number of women working to report the news from hostile environments around the world. Throughout her career, she has brought audiences to the centre of the story by fearlessly reporting from the ground, whilst clearly and concisely explaining the complex issues to audiences at home. We are delighted to be celebrating her stellar career at this year’s ceremony; she is a true trailblazer and very deserving of the Fellowship Award.”
Adie said: “It’s lovely to be awarded the BAFTA Fellowship. I feel very honoured.”
Adie began her broadcasting career as a station assistant at Radio Durham and then moved to BBC Radio Bristol. She made the transition to TV news in London and was on duty in 1980 when the siege of the Iranian Embassy was brought to an end by the SAS. Her live report, which interrupted the World Snooker Championships, was seen and heard by millions in homes across the UK. In 1989, Adie was appointed Chief News Correspondent for the BBC and held the post for 14 years.
Adie has reported from danger zones and conflicts around the world, including both Gulf Wars, four years of war in the Balkans, the final NATO intervention in Kosovo and elections in 2000, the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster at Zeebrugge, the massacre at Dunblane, the Selby rail crash, the Bologna railway station bombing and the Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing in 1989. She carried out numerous assignments in Northern Ireland throughout “The Troubles” as well as reporting on the referendum to ratify the Good Friday Agreement. Kate covered the Lockerbie bombing and reported from Libya after the London Embassy siege of 1984, reporting from Libya many times thereafter, including the bombing of Tripoli by the US in 1986. She also covered the Rwandan Genocide and the British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Adie is also the long-serving presenter of Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent and a presenter or contributor to many other radio and television programmes. She has won numerous awards including the Richard Dimbleby Award at the British Academy Television Awards in 1990, three Royal Television Society awards and the Broadcasting Press Guild`s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting.
The Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards will be hosted by Sue Perkins at the Royal Festival Hall, London, and broadcast on BBC One on May 13th. The red carpet will be streamed live on BAFTA’s social media platforms.