26 November 2020
Newsdesk
Sir David Attenborough, Sean Paul and Chanel the Parrot were among the award winners at the BBC Radio 1 Lockdown Awards.
In a special edition of Radio 1 Breakfast this morning, Greg James hosted an awards show with a difference to celebrate some of the most weird and wonderful moments of 2020.
Virtual Teacher of the Year went to Sir David Attenborough, who pipped fellow nominees Joe Wicks, BTS and Annie Mac to the top spot.
Collecting his award, Sir David said: “That’s very kind of you, I take it as a great compliment. Teachers are some of the most important people in our society. What they teach young people is going to affect the future of the world and we all owe them a lot together with the National Health Service. Thank you very much.”
Live Performance of the Year went to Sean Paul for his rooftop contribution to Radio 1’s Stay Home Live Lounge despite stiff competition from fellow nominees Sophie Ellis Bexter, Matt Lucas, Miley Cyrus and Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes.
Sean discussed his performance when accepting his award, saying: “I think the sunshine and the hills and the trees helped me. I think that’s why it was so dope! The words just came: ‘We make it better together, we make a better life...’ With this year being such a clearly unprecedented crazy time, I think those words were just really heartfelt.”
Fitness Inspiration of the Year went to Joe Wicks, who came out on top against Gregg Wallace, Mollie King and Mark Wright, and Mr Motivator.
Joe said: “What a lovely honour, thank you! I just keep getting awards this year - I wasn’t prepared for it! But thanks so much for giving me this award to celebrate the year. I do feel proud. My main aim was to bring a bit of structure to peoples’ days… I really think it brought families together and gave them something to look forward to every day.”
Picking up two awards was the affectionately known ‘Two Biscuits Kid’, the son of Sky News correspondent Deborah Haynes who interrupted his mother during a live zoom interview to ask for two biscuits. Two Biscuits Kid picked up Zoom Fail of the Year as well as Sassy Kid of the Year.
Other winners included the iconic African Grey parrot Chanel who picked up the Animal of the Year award, 11 year old Ava winning Radio 1 Breakfast Caller Of The Year, and Ben Howell’s Dua Lipa / BBC News mash up winning Remix of the Year.
During the ceremony Greg James also revealed plans for Radio 1’s annual Teen Heroes celebrations as the station prepares to shine a light on some of the young unsung heroes of 2020.
The station has put a call out for listeners to get in touch if they know someone aged between 12 and 17 who has shown bravery, made a difference, inspired others or been incredibly selfless this year. Greg will select a small number of the stories to feature on Radio 1 Breakfast in the run up to Christmas (14 – 17 December) in a week dedicated to celebrating some of the UK’s most inspirational teens.
The station will also aim to acknowledge as many of the submissions on air as possible, as the challenges of the past year mean the country is full of Teen Heroes.
Submissions can be made via email to greg.james@bbc.co.uk. Entries will close at 10:30am on Thursday 3rd December.
