Comedian and entertainer Patrick Kielty is to host the virtual RTS NI 2020 programme awards.
The Royal Television Society (RTS) today launched its 2020 Programme Awards for the Northern Ireland creative industries. The winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony hosted by Patrick Kielty on Thursday 12th November at 8pm.
Vikkie Taggart, Chair of RTS NI, said: “Patrick is one of the most recognisable names on TV having appeared on everything from prime-time celebrity shows to late night standup and topical panel shows and we are delighted that he’s agreed to join us as we celebrate the best of Northern Ireland’s creative talent.
“It’s been a particularly difficult year for our industry with so many productions having to down cameras when we went into lockdown. But it’s also been an amazing year as we found innovative new ways to continue filming and producing the high quality programming Northern Ireland is now renowned for worldwide.”
Patrick Kielty said: “It’s more important than ever to celebrate the diverse voices that make up our industry across the UK.
“As someone lucky enough to win an RTS Award, I know how much it means to be from Northern Ireland and have your work recognised.
“I’m genuinely delighted that, despite everything this year has thrown at us, we’re gonna get our glad rags on at home and toast our best of the best.”xa0
Maeve McLoughlin, RTS NI Awards Committee Chair also said: “This is the 6thxa0year of our Programme Awards and every year sees more and more entries coming through.xa0
“As an education charity these awards help the RTS to raise awareness of the growing success and innovation of the creative industries in Northern Ireland.xa0
“We look forward to highlighting the exceptional people working in our local creative sector, many of whom have shown true resilience and creativity in producing remarkable productions during these tough times.”
The 2020 Award categories are:
• Scripted Comedy
• Entertainment
• Features and / or Factual Entertainment
• Specialist Factual
• Documentary
• Current Affairs
• News Coverage
• Drama
• Children’s and / or Animation
• Interactive Entertainment
• Original Music Score
• Brian Waddell Award for Outstanding Contribution (to the local television and film industry in NI)
The RTS NI has partnered with BBC Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen, Channel 4 and UTV for these prestigious awards.
Judging in each category will be carried out independently by an experienced internal jury with winners being announced at the special awards ceremony on Thursday 12thxa0November going out live at 8pm via RTS NI’s Facebook page.
To enter this year’s Awards please go to:
xa0https://awardsentry.rts.org.uk/entrant/xa0
The closing date for entries is 5pm Monday 28th September, 2020.xa0xa0
To qualify for entry, all entries must have been first transmitted or made available on an On-Demand service betweenxa01 August 2019 and 1 August 2020 except for Interactive Entertainment which should have been released between these dates.
All entries may be submitted by broadcasters, companies or individualsxa0based in or working in Northern Ireland.
Further details can be found on:xa0
