Rose d’Or 2020 winners unveiled

The 59th Rose d’Or Awards has recognised shows including Sex Education, The School That Tried To End Racism, Once Upon A Time In Iraq, Woke and Homefest: James Corden’s Late Late Show Special.

The Rose d’Or Awards 2020 virtual ceremony was hosted by Nish Kumar this afternoon and you can view it here.

The awards included a new Innovation In The Time of Covid category, the annual Golden Rose, which is awarded to one of the winners as the outstanding programme of the year, and three discretionary individual awards: Emerging Talent, Performance of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.

This year’s winners include programming from six different countries: the UK, US, Germany, Argentina, France and Australia.

The Innovation In The Time of Covid award was presented to Homefest: James Corden’s Late Late Show Special out of finalists from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.

BBC2’s Once Upon A Time In Iraq, produced by Keo Films, was named as the winner in the Documentary category, as well as taking home the Golden Rose.

Netflix’s Sex Education received the Comedy Drama and Sitcom trophy, after its return for a third season was announced recently. Cast member Ncuti Gatwa was also individually recognised for his portrayal of Eric with the Performance of the Year award, which is bestowed for an outstanding performance in the past 12 months.

Channel 4’s series The School That Tried To End Racism, which follows a British school as it helps to educate its students on hidden racial biases and attempts to eradicate them, picked up the Reality and Factual Entertainment award.

Woke, featuring former New Girl star Lamorne Morris, picked up the Comedy category award, beating UK nominee Famalam. The semi-animated series was inspired by the life and work of artist and coproducer Keith Knight, known for his humorous cartoons on political, social and racial issues.

BBC Radio 4’s Tunnel 29, telling the story of a student in Germany who escaped from one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships in 1961 and why, a few months later, he began tunnelling his way back in, was presented with the Audio Entertainment award.

French production The Wonderbox took home the Studio Entertainment award, while in the Drama category, Germany’s Babylon Berlin saw off competition from the likes of shortlisted Normal People, The Capture and Baghdad Central to be crowned winner. Australia also saw wins in the Children and Youth category for First Day and Social Media and Video Series category for Content.

Argentinian telenovela Victoria Small won in the Soap or Telenovela category, while the Arts award was presented to Germany’s Wim Wenders, Desperado, about the life’s work of one of the pioneers of New German Cinema.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours a television personality for their exceptional contribution to the entertainment industry, was this year presented to Sir David Attenborough to celebrate his 60-year career as a natural history broadcaster.

Daisy Edgar-Jones was awarded the first ever Emerging Talent Award for her portrayal of Marianne in Normal People, after the show became a lockdown favourite earlier this year. The inaugural award has been instituted to recognise great new talent this year and every year.

Sir David Attenborough, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Ncuti Gatwa join a prestigious list of previous recipients of individual awards, including last year’s Lifetime Achievement winner Maren Kroymann from Germany, as well as Joanna Lumley, James Corden, Angela Lansbury and John Cleese.

This year’s Rose d’Or Awards saw a record number of entries at 766, across 12 categories. Voted for by more than 80 international judges from across the television industry, the 2020 awards included entries from every major territory in the world.

Mark Rowland, chair of the 2020 judges, said: “It has been an extraordinary year for television, reinforcing its role as central to all of our lives. It’s been an honour to review this incredible body of work produced before and during the pandemic. Congratulations to the winners, all our entrants and every production team member who made these great shows possible.”

The full list of Rose d’Or 2020 winners is as follows:

Comedy
Woke
Sony Pictures Television/ABC Studios/Hulu/US

Comedy Drama and Sitcom
Sex Education
Eleven Film/Netflix
UK/US

Drama
Babylon Berlin
X Filme Creative Pool/ARD Degeto, WRD, Beta Film, Sky
Germany

Soap or Telenovela
Victoria Small
ViacomCBS International Studios/Oficina Burman (The Media Pro Studio)/Telefe
Argentina

Reality and Factual Entertainment
The School That Tried To End Racism
Proper Content/Banijay/Channel 4
UK

Documentary
Once Upon A Time In Iraq
Keo Films/BBC Two
UK

Arts
Wim Wenders, Desperado
NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk)/Studio Hamburg Enterprises/Das Erste (ARD)
Germany

Studio Entertainment
The Wonderbox
Capa/Newen Connect/France 3
France

Children and Youth
First Day
Epic Films/Australian Children’s Television Foundation/ABC
Australia

Social Media and Video Series
Content
Ludo Studio/ABC TV
Australia

Innovation In The Time of Covid
Homefest: James Corden’s Late Late Show Special
Fulwell 73/CBS Studios/ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group
US

Audio Entertainment
Tunnel 29
BBC Radio 4
UK

The Golden Rose
Once Upon A Time In Iraq
Keo Films/BBC Two
UK