BAFTA announces 2016 Breakthrough Brits

At a lavish ceremony last night, BAFTA revealed its fourth crop of Breakthrough Brits, with 18 young creatives given the award, including five who work in the video game industry.

Winners of the prize with a video game background are Tom Wicksteed, the developer behind Big Pharma, Alex Grahame, an artist at The Chinese Room, Jon Mckellan, creative director at No Code, Matthew Hyde, a creative director at Glitchers, and Jodie Azhar, a lead technical artist at Creative Assembly.

The Breakthrough Brits are decided each year by a industry experts from a variety of different disciplines, with the gaming contingent represented by Phil Harrison, Mike Bithell, Lee Schuneman and Patrick O’Luanaigh, but there are also big names from other media like writer Lucina Coxon, Actor Rosamund Pike and Liz Warner, Channel 4’s previous commissioning editor.

"Our 2016 Breakthrough Brits come from a range of backgrounds and represent the variety of specialisms that make up our creative industries." Said BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry, OBE. "I’m thrilled to see such talented individuals recognised this year."

Previous games winners include Dan Pearce, creator of 10 Second Ninja X, William Pugh, creator of Stanley Parable, and Bafta winners Daniel Gray and Rex Crowle, who won awards for Monument Valley and Tearaway, respectively.

Here’s the full list of those recognised this year.

· Alex Grahame – Games Artist

· Eben Bolter – Cinematographer

· Ellen Husain – Producer

· Florence Pugh – Actress

· Helen Walsh – Writer-Director

· Jodie Azhar – Lead Technical Artist

· Jon McKellan – Creative Director

· Kayode Ewumi – Actor/Writer

· Malachi Kirby – Actor

· Marnie Dickens – Writer

· Matt Hyde – Creative Director

· Michael Berliner – Producer

· Nainita Desai – Composer

· Rebecca Lloyd – Editor

· Ruth Madeley – Actress

· Tim Wicksteed – Game Developer

· Tom Davis – Actor/Writer

· Vinay Patel – Writer