However, it wasn’t until 1989 that matters were put onto more formal footing. Panavision and the GBCT joined forces to create the Camera Operators’ Award, the Focus Pullers’ Award and the David Lenham Award. Voting was conducted by the GBCT membership and the first ‘Golden Camera’ award was presented to Mike Roberts, Associate BSC, GBCT for his amazing work for DoP Peter Biziou BSC, GBCT on the Oscar-winning Mississippi Burning assisted by Focus Puller, Eamonn O’Keeffe GBCT, Key Grip David Appleby GBCT and Gaffer Peter Bloor GBCT amongst others.

The BSC has hosted a version of Operators’ Night every year since 1951. (That said, between 2006 and 2010, no Operators Awards were presented at the BSC’s Operators Night.) But in 2007, at the GBCT’s 30thAnniversary Dinner Dance held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Sir Roger Moore presented the last Golden Camera award to Roger Pearce Associate BSC, GBCT for operating on DoP Phil Méheux BSC, GBCT’s Casino Royale.

Operator of the Year

Gordon Hayman GBCT was awarded the Guild's Operators' Award for 1992.

Chosen from Oscar and BAFTA nominated films and voted by Guild DoPs, Gordon's outstanding operating on Cape Fear earned him the honour. He received the "Golden Camera" from Panavision's Hugh Whittaker at the BSC's Operators' Night.

A little extra information about another Award which was handed out at the BSC’s Operators’ Night:

The Focus Pullers Award

Any Operator will always need a superb Focus Puller to work alongside them.

During days gone by, the work of Focus Pullers was acknowledged at Operators’ Night via the presentation of the GBCT’s Focus Puller’s Award – sponsored by Panavision. We are searching for information to find out how many people were given this award, over what years - so this part of ‘the history of ….’ can also be recorded.

Winners of the Focus Pullers Award
(Fondly called the ‘golden knob’)
include: Eamonn O’Keeffe; Danny Shelmerdine; Simon Hume; Ted Deason; Rawdon Hayne; and John Deaton (one of the GBCT’s founding members)

All that is known is that since 2007, neither the Golden Camera nor the Focus Puller’s Award can be found – where could they have gone? Perhaps it was because of the incredible ability and talent of the legendary Operators that had won the Golden Camera in the past that made others reluctant to nominate productions they’d worked on – or maybe it was because increasing numbers of DoP’s were operating themselves. It could even have been that someone dropped and broke the Golden Camera during a pub crawl. Who knows? The truth seems to have been lost in the sands of time.

If anyone can provide further truthful information about what’s happened, please inform the GBCT Office and anything authentic will be included in the archives! (E: info@gbct.org)

But please remember, this is not just about back-slapping at awards nights. Something more had to be done to remind the industry that it must not forget the benefits of having a good Operator, the help and support they give Directors and DoP’s - and the polish they bring to a production. The skills all good Operators should have were rapidly being lost as people left the industry and were not being replaced by properly trained craft and technical individuals. Whatever was to happen, the Operators themselves had to take the lead to protect their role -because something had to be done – and soon.

2010 to 2021

This is why and how the Association of Camera Operators came into existence. The founders (*) worked tirelessly and with help from Frances Russell of the BSC and Deanne Edwards of the GBCT, the ACO was born.

Its aim was to promote the importance of the role of the camera operator and the skills an operator must have to production personnel, to nurture existing talent and maintain quality when operating. To help push this initiative forward, the GBCT shared its DTI grant with the ACO to enable Chris Plevin to represent the ACO and GBCT on a trip to Cine Gear Los Angeles and develop good relationships with the US equivalent camera organisations.

Apart from setting up the new society, the ACO’s first President, Rodrigo Gutierrez, made it his prime objective to reinstate the Operators’ Award. And this he did in 2011 by partnering the ACO with the BSC and GBCT to launch the Operators’ Award – Feature Films. Peter Cavaciuti took the lead in 2014 by instigating the start of the Operators’ Award – Television Drama; Rodrigo then took up the baton again from 2015.

Using the rules and voting framework of the original Operators’ Award as a rough guide, Rodrigo built and improved on this to work alongside the BSC and GBCT to organise the way the Awards were run and duties shared. (Thereafter, each society would take the lead with the organisation, budget control and administration role for the Awards for a period of two years).

It was agreed by all three societies that the three memberships and patrons of the GBCT and ACO would be given one vote each to nominate productions and operators for final voting to take place and that a specially convened jury of an equal number of members from the BSC, ACO and GBCT would vote for the winners of the Features and TV Drama awards (e.g. The Jury of the Operators’ Awards Committee would consist of 3 x BSC Members, 3 x ACO Members, 3 x GBCT Members plus a Chair). Any deciding vote would lie with DoP Mike Southon BSC, the Chair of the Jury for the Operators Awards Committee. Jury Members are now changed every year.