CFT Awards Presentation

The Parable of the Prodigal Son was presented by the Dublin drama ministry of Shay Phelan, who also represented the Irish Christian Writers’ Fellowship when presenting the Best Television Series award to Kieran Prendiville. Ana Castellano explained the importance of Flamenco dance in religious celebrations in Spain and her Flamenco Y Mas captivated the audience. Rev. Tony Miles of Premier Radio - London ended the ceremony with a Blessing.

In her acceptance speech, the glamorous and gracious Ms. Ni Mhuiri spoke of the first years working on Ballykissangel as “exciting times, with (Ireland’s) Peace Process on the way” working with “a team drawn from the north and south of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Australia” and spoke of the good will prevalent during filming.

Always the consummate entertainer, Niall Toibin’s remarks ran from touching words of gratitude to his family and co-workers to very funny anecdotes from his past four decades on the stage and before a camera. Mr. Toibin pointed out that “This evening is full of odd coincidences. When the decision was made to use the Unitarian Church as the venue for this presentation, nobody knew that the basement of this building once housed a theatre”.

Both Aine Ni Mhuiri and Niall Toibin performed on the stage of that theatre early in their careers, coming full circle to receive their awards under the same roof. We believe that God planned our awards as a little surprise for these two the moment they first set foot on that stage, long before our society was conceived. The ISECFT considers it a privilege to have been a part of this divine appointment.

The hit BBC N. Ireland series, Ballykissangel won all but one of the 2001 CFT Excellence Awards in the television category. Those awards were presented in Dublin, Ireland at the Unitarian Church on the 29th of October 2002.

Chris Hudson served at the master of ceremonies for the evening and ISECFT member, Margaret Pattison flew in from Switzerland to stand in for European spokesman, Bartomiej Bertoldi who was held up in Poland.