About the awards
The CATs are back and still valuing television in ways that other award ceremonies often cannot. We want to showcase the whole of the amazingness that makes up what we watch on the box or on the laptop or smart phone, and that means looking for other things to celebrate. Last year we gave awards to clever production managers that kept their crews Covid safe, to programmes that kept us sane during the pandemic, to those that used Covid restrictions to emphasise the drama of their stories, and to aspiring TV makers who managed to use the restrictions in clever ways.
This year we’re emphasising aspects of television that relate to sustainability and climate change.
This incorporates programmes that engage audiences with climate change, new TV ideas developed by schools and colleges, and TV productions made by university students.
To find out more and to nominate a production, please see tabs below.
Nominations have now closed, and our awards ceremony will take place on the 26 April in the Studio Theatre at Edge Hill University. To book your place at the ceremony (online or offline), please email: [email protected]
Programmes that engaged audiences with climate change
There is no question that climate change is one of the big problems facing humanity. This award celebrates those productions that have drawn attention to climate change in ways that audiences found helpful and engaging. The following programmes have been nominated and we would like you to vote for one of them:
Chris Packham: Is It Time to Break the Law (Channel 4)
The Great Climate Fight (Channel 4)
Big Oil vs the World (BBC)
Local community climate action documentary by school or college
Local community groups are often engaged in climate action without shouting about it: they may do litter picks, or plant trees and flowers, or use recycled material to build new things. It’s time we celebrated them, and who better to do this than those who live in these communities across the UK: school and college students. We invite school and college students to nominate their short (ca 5-minute) documentary productions about local community groups.
Student production that engages with Climate Change
We are again honoured to be able to work with the Production Guild to judge the best of the TV work developed in different universities. This year, we are looking for student productions that engage with climate change or respond to the climate crisis in some way.