Bafta honour for city’s Kate
JOURNALIST WILL RECEIVE ACADEMY’S HIGHEST AWARD – A FELLOWSHIP
Sunderland journalist Kate Adie is to receive Bafta’s highest honour.
She will be awarded this year’s Bafta Fellowship, following in the footsteps of Sir David Attenborough, Joanna Lumley and Sir Bruce Forsyth.
The fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by Bafta on an individual for their work in film, TV or games across their career.
Bafta chairwoman Jane Lush said the broadcast journalist, who reported from danger zones and conflicts around the globe, was a ‘true trailblazer’.
“Kate Adie is a truly groundbreaking 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.”
Kae Adie’s foster-father had a chemist’s shop in Southwick, wheresheworkedonSaturdays. She was a pupil at Sunderland ChurchHighSchoolandgraduated from Newcastle University in the 1960s.
Her career began with reporting for Radio Durham and she went on to hold the post of chief news correspondent for the BBC for 14 years from 1988.
“It’s lovely to be awarded the Bafta Fellowship,” she said. “I feel very honoured.”
Other previous recipients of the fellowship for their work include Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Jon Snow, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Palin, Sir Trevor McDonald and Dame Julie Walters.
Kate will be honoured with the fellowship in London, on May 13.