Oscars, Brits and Baftas: Are the big awards diverse enough?

The 2020 Oscars take place on Sunday night in the United States

Has there been enough diversity this awards season?

From the Baftas to the Brits, the big awards, which are staged in January and February, have received a lot of criticism for not being diverse enough.

What would diversity at the awards shows look like? Well, many people believe there's a lack of female nominees, as well as a lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) nominees. Not having as many nominees means that there are also fewer winners.

Which awards have come under fire?

Pretty much every major awards show has been criticised. That includes the Baftas and the Brits here in the UK, and the Oscars in the United States.

The Bafta awards were criticised for a lack of representation after no non-white actors were nominated.

There were also no women nominated in the best director category for the seventh year in a row.

At this year's Bafta ceremony, several award-winners commented on the lack of diversity in both the nominations, and the whole industry, in their speeches.

Dua Lipa has called for better representation of women at the Brits

When Dua Lipa picked up her award for best British female at the 2018 Brit awards she said: "Here's to more women on these stages, more women winning awards and more women taking over the world."

One year later in the 2019 Brit awards, the number of female nominees had risen from four to 12.

But it changed again for 2020's nominations. The shortlist for best album was exclusively male, while only one woman - Mabel - was nominated in categories where both men and women are eligible.

One journalist, Charlotte Gunn, from influential music magazine NME, said: "How do they look at that list and go, 'Yeah, that's cool, let's go with that?' I find it really strange."

When the Brit awards were criticised for this kind of thing before, organisers responded by making big changes to its voting committee.

This year nearly half of the members were female, and one quarter of them were from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. Unfortunately, the nominations still fell short for some people.

Lupita Nyong'o missed out on a nomination for Us

When it comes to Oscar nominees, diversity has also been a big issue.

Films like Us, The Farewell and Dolemite Is My Name all have diverse casts, but none of the actors or films were nominated.

In fact, researchers at the University of Southern California looked at the biggest 100 box office hits and discovered more of 2019's top movies featured minority or female lead characters than ever.

Critics thought that Lupita Nyong'o might be in with a chance of winning for her performance in Us, but she didn't get nominated.

In 2019, the people who make the decisions about the Oscars announced a brand new committee, and increased the number of female and BAME members.

What have people said?

Cynthia Erivo is the only person of colour to be nominated for an Oscar in this year's acting categories

The one black star up for an Oscar is Brit Cynthia Erivo. She said it feels "bittersweet" to be the only person of colour to be nominated.

She's up for the best actress award for her performance in Harriet.

Joaquin Phoenix won the Bafta best actor prize for his role in Joker, he made comments about representation in his acceptance speech.

He said: "I feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don't have that same privilege. I think that we send a very clear message to people of colour that you're not welcome here."

Prince William said "we need to do more to address diversity in the sector"

Prince William made a speech at the Baftas too, he said: "We find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to address diversity in the sector.

"That cannot be right in this day and age. Bafta take this issue seriously, and following this year's nominations have launched a full review … to ensure the opportunities are available to everyone."

What's going to happen now?

It's not the first time controversy surrounding representation at awards has happened.

In 2015, a movement started called #OscarsSoWhite began, it was in response to a lack of diversity at the 2015 Oscars.

Steve McQueen said that things in the industry need to change

The award-winning director Steve McQueen said awards like the Baftas risk becoming irrelevant if they keep failing to recognise talent.

Lots of people are calling for change to happen, and for more to be done about this problem in the industry, but will the next set of award ceremonies reflect that?

The chair of Bafta's film committee, Marc Samuelson, did admit that the nominations were not as representative as they should be.

But he blamed the wider industry for diversity problem, he said: "It's just a frustration that the industry is not moving as fast as certainly the whole Bafta team would like it to be."