Dive deeper into Sir David Attenborough’s life with your own copy of ‘Sir David Attenborough – 100th Birthday’
As of 2014, Sir David Attenborough was the only person to have won BAFTA Awards for programmes in black and white, colour, HD and 3D. As of this year, he’s been awarded not only multiple BAFTAs, but also Emmys, a Peabody Award, and much more.
Below is an extensive list of just some of the awards he’s won over his long career as UK’s most loved nature historian and TV presenter.
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David Attenborough's awards and accolades
1980 – BAFTA Fellowship – a lifetime achievement award in recognition of “outstanding achievement in the art forms of the moving image”; the highest honour the Academy can bestow.
1981 – Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science from UNESCO – an award given for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to people.
1983 – elected a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
1992 – elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.
1996 – Kew International Medal – given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to science and conservation.
2003 – Michael Faraday Prize awarded by the Royal Society – awarded for “excellence in communicating science to UK audiences.”
2006 – National Television Awards Special Recognition Award.
2011 – Association for International Broadcasting International TV Personality of the year.
2011 – Emmy Award in Outstanding Nature Programming for First Life.
2011 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing for First Life.
2014 – BAFTA TV Award, Best Specialist Factual for David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive.
2015 – Individual Peabody Award – the Peabody awards honour the most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in all of television, radio and online media.
2016 – Emmy Award, Outstanding Nature Programming for Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates.
2017 – BAFTA TV Award, Best Specialist Factual for Planet Earth III.
2018 – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for Blue Planet II.
2018 – BAFTA TV Award, Virgin TV’s Must-See Moment for Blue Planet II.
2019 – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for Our Planet.
2020 – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for Seven Worlds, One Planet.
2020 – National Film Awards, India – Best Narration/Voice Over for Wild Karnataka.
2020 – Critic’s Choice Documentary Award, Best Narration for David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.
2021 – Lifetime Achievement Award (Champions of the Earth) – recognising outstanding environmental leaders.
2022 – Lifetime Achievement Award at 43rd News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
2024 – National Television Awards, Most Popular TV Expert.
2025 – Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Daytime Personality – Non-Daily.
2025 – TV Times Awards – TV Icon of Today.
Top image: David Attenborough poses with his Specialist Factual BAFTA for Life in Cold Blood on 26th April 2009. Credit: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
