Mama Youth Project is to receive the special award at next weekend’s Bafta TV Craft Awards in recognition of two decades of helping people from underrepresented backgrounds into the industry.
Bob Clarke, who founded the charity in 2025, will pick up the award on 28 April.
Mama Youth has trained more than 800 people to date, working with the likes of ex-offenders, homeless people, young carers and sexual assault sufferers to help them become employable and thrive in the industries.
Banijay UK, Comic Relief, Hat Trick, Sky, Warner Bros, Fremantle, Disney, 72 Films and Fulwell 73 are among some of the organisations that have worked or partnered with the charity over the years.
In 2021, Mama Youth’s commercial production arm, Licklemor shared a best entertainment Bafta award with CPL Productions for Sky’s Life & Rhymes, a spoken-word performance show fronted by the late Benjamin Zephaniah.
Mama Youth also operates a hardship fund for alumni who are out of work and runs regular masterclasses, talks and mentoring opportunities.
After dropped out of school at 17, Clarke became a TV editor with British Forces Television, where he received full BBC training.
He went on to become a freelancer for clients including LWT, Central TV and Sky, setting up his own post-house in 1998, which would become production company Mama Productions, and he went on to fund the first two years of Mama Youth before it became a registered charity.
