Types
Blue Peter awards seven different types of badges, as well as, occasionally, some limited edition variants. [6]
Main badges
- The Blue or White badge (a blue ship on a white shield): This is what the presenters on the show usually wear. Viewers of the programme can win one by either sending in an interesting letter, poem, picture or story, or by appearing on the programme.
- The Silver and Blue badge (a silver ship on a blue shield; not to be confused with the newer Silver badge described below): This was awarded to viewers who have already won a Blue badge, for a further achievement, until it was retired in 2022 in favour of the new Silver badge.
- The Green badge (a white ship on a green shield): This is Blue Peter's environmental award, awarded for any correspondence from viewers with a conservation, nature or environmental theme. Presenters on the programme occasionally wear this badge instead of the blue one, as does the gardener Chris Collins, and they have been given out to those appearing on editions of the programme dedicated to environmental issues. On the Thursday 2 June 2016 show, it was announced that the Green badge would be made out of recycled material from then onwards.
- The Competition Winners, or Orange badge (a white ship on an orange shield): This is given to viewers who have been either a winner or runner up in any of Blue Peter's many competitions. This replaced the original competition winners badge, which was a circular metal badge with the ship in the centre and the words "Blue Peter Competition Winner" around the outside, in 2005.
- The Fan Club, Purple, or Team Player's badge (a white ship on a purple shield): Introduced in September 2006, this was originally awarded to 12 children a month who won the chance to spend a day working with the Blue Peter team by having ideas for the programme. It was also awarded to the 'Purple Lady' visited by Gethin Jones on the show broadcast on Thursday 10 May 2007. From the September 2007 series, the team players scheme was changed and viewers are now awarded these badges when writing a review of an edition of the programme.
- The Silver badge (a silver ship on a sparkling silver shield) launched on 14 October 2022, awarded for acts of kindness and supporting others. [7]
- The Book badge was introduced in 2023. It is awarded to children for showing an interest in reading. It was designed by Sir Quentin Blake in his caricature style.
- The Gold badge (a gold-plated brooch in the shape of the ship logo): This is Blue Peter's highest award and is given for exceptional achievement, such as to people who have performed acts of extreme bravery, or represented their country in a major event. It takes the form of a gold-plated ship-shaped pin brooch. Gold badge holders include Leo Stuchbury (1993) who was awarded this badge for being the youngest ever person to complete the National Swimathon at the age of 6, David Beckham, J. K. Rowling, Stephen Payne, Queen Elizabeth II (2001), Tom Daley (2009), David Tennant (2009), Sir Lewis Hamilton (2009), Karina Bailey McNally (2009), Anthony Horowitz (2011), Sir Jonathan Ive (2013), [8] [9] Helen Glover (2014), [10] Peter Lord (2015), [11] Steven Spielberg (2016), [12] Roald Dahl (posthumously 2016), [13] the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (2017), [14] Ed Sheeran (2018), [12] Madonna, [12] Sir Peter Jackson, Sir David Attenborough, [12] Sir Paul McCartney (2019), [12] Captain Tom Moore (2020), [15] Anne Wood CBE (2020), [16] Dani Harmer (2021) and Marcus Rashford (2021), [17] King Charles III and Queen Camilla (2023). Also, Matthew McGuinness for outstanding cricket despite living with cystic fibrosis in 2006, E Henshaw for fundraising efforts in 2013 and Emily Burrows for bravery and fundraising in 2019. Two dogs have also received the Gold badge: Bonnie in 1991 and Endal in 2003. Valerie Singleton was the first former presenter to be awarded the gold badge, being presented with it by Yvette Fielding and John Leslie during the recording of a commercial VHS home video Blue Peter – The Best Of The 1960s And 1970s, released in 1990. John Noakes and Peter Purves were awarded their gold badges during the programme broadcast in January 2000 where the presenters reunited to open the box buried for the millennium in 1971. It has become traditional to present a leaving presenter with a gold badge on their final show, firstly with Simon Thomas, (see Use by presenters, above). Former editors of the programme; Biddy Baxter and Lewis Bronze were both given the badge live on their last shows, whilst Richard Marson was awarded one after his last programme by Baxter. Janet Ellis was awarded her gold badge in November 2017 on BBC’s breakfast news by presenter Radzi Chingyanganya.
Limited edition badges
As well as the badges listed above, some types of badges have been produced as limited editions for various occasions:
- A 25th birthday badge, introduced in October 1983.
- A 30th birthday badge, introduced in October 1988.
- A 35th birthday badge, introduced in October 1993.
- A badge to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the launch of the original badge in 1963, introduced in October 2003. This moulding was made of rubber and larger than the traditional badge; it consisted of a white shield with a raised 'bubble ship' applique.
- A 50th birthday badge, introduced in October 2008. This was a gold shield with a blue ship, with the digits "50" superimposed. It was awarded to viewers who sent in something to the programme which celebrated the 50th birthday. However this badge was not announced on the programme itself.
- The Factbyte Factory badge (a shield containing a hologram which oscillates between the Blue Peter logo and a "factbyte" logo): was introduced in early 2009, this badge was awarded to those achieving VIP Level 7 in the online Factbyte Factory game. This is achieved by collecting factbytes (interesting facts and information represented by a gold circle containing an f) from the programmes and the website. This was a limited edition badge and ended after the close of the 2009 series.
- The Sport Badge was introduced for a limited time in 2013 to try to get more children to participate in a sport (from the months of July to September – a child's usual summer holiday.) The badge is shield-shaped and made from the same material as the common Blue badge. It is a white badge with a medal shape on the front of it (the round-shaped medal which is blue, but has the white Blue Peter ship on it. The ribbon 'attached' to the medal is made from stripes of blue, white and red.) The child could earn the badge by introducing someone to a new sport, maybe a friend or a brother or sister. [18] Children could apply for the sport badge during the summer months of every year since, with slight changes in the badge's design. The 2014 and 2015 badge had borders added to the design, which were blue and red respectively. To celebrate the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a competition was launched to design the 2016 sport badge. The sports badge was also awarded in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The 2021/22 Sport badge was designed by skateboarder Sky Brown; it features a wave design, and the raised motto "The sky is the limit" in a ring around the ship logo. [19]
- The Music badge, designed by Ed Sheeran, was launched for BBC Music Day in 2019; it has a black ship on a multi-coloured shield featuring musical instruments and other motifs [20]
- The Diamond badge, given out in 2018 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Blue Peter and given to viewers who had already received a blue badge.[ citation needed ]
- The Doctor Who badge, given out in 2023 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and was given to the top 500 competition entries for the Blue Peter Doctor Who Competition. [21]
Other awards
As well as the badges, an "Outstanding Endeavour" award was introduced to the show in 1978. It is circular, made from brass, and bears the show's ship logo. It was presented to the programme on its 20th-anniversary show by original presenter Christopher Trace. Trace was working at a factory at the time and his colleagues made the award to be presented to a viewer who had achieved some remarkable endeavour, such as saving a life or overcoming a particular adversity. Trace had not informed the production team ahead of the live broadcast he was planning on introducing the award on the programme. [22] Initially it was presented annually on the show's October birthday edition, being given to, amongst others, pop group Musical Youth in 1982 and trampoline champion Andrea Holmes in 1983, who received the award from Trace himself on the 25th-anniversary show. [23] [24] 11-years-old lifesaver Martin Pout won the award in 1984 followed by Bob Geldof in 1985. [25] Don Allum took the award in 1987 and teenagers Simon Marsh and Anthony Walters were recognised in 1988 for saving a school bus from disaster, being given their award by Valerie Singleton on the show's 30th anniversary edition. [26] In 1989 the show honoured the boys of Emanuel School who had assisted the victims of the Clapham Junction rail crash on 12 December 1988 [26] This was the last time the award was presented.
