The National Television Award for Special Recognition is an award presented annually by the National Television Awards (NTAs). It is considered the most prestigious award given out in the ceremony and is awarded to people or programmes that have made a significant contribution to British television over a number of years. It is the only award at the NTAs that is not voted for by the general public.
History The Special Recognition Award has been given in every ceremony since the beginning of the National Television Awards, with the exception of 2014, in which it was substituted by the Landmark Award. The first recipient in 1995 was Julie Goodyear. In 2020, Sir Michael Palin used his acceptance speech to pay tribute to his Monty Python co-star Terry Jones, who had died a week earlier.
Winners Year Winner 1995 Julie Goodyear 1996 David Jason 1997 Robson Green 1998 John Thaw 1999 Michael Barrymore 2000 Chris Tarrant 2001 Des O'Connor 2002 Ant & Dec 2003 Sir Trevor McDonald 2004 Caroline Quentin 2005 Jamie Oliver 2006 Sir David Attenborough 2007 Jeremy Clarkson 2008 Simon Cowell 2010 Stephen Fry 2011 Bruce Forsyth 2012 Jonathan Ross 2013 Joanna Lumley 2014 Ant & Dec 2015 David Tennant 2016 Sir Billy Connolly 2017 Graham Norton 2018 Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs 2019 David Dimbleby 2020 Sir Michael Palin 2021 Line of Duty 2022 Sir Lenny Henry 2023 Sarah Lancashire 2024 Davina McCall 2025 Wallace & Gromit 2026 Alan Carr
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