Ncuti Gatwa has been given the GAY TIMES Honour for On-Screen Trailblazer.

On Thursday (21 November) night, the Scottish-Rwandan actor appeared at the GAY TIMES Honours 500 ceremony, which honours queer people and their allies who have had a profound impact on the community over the last 12 months.

Earlier this year, Gatwa received universal praise for his role as Eric Effiong on Netflix’s coming-of-age dramedy Sex Education. The character was lauded for subverting the stereotypes of the gay/black best friend stock character.

Due to Ncuti’s performance, Eric has been hailed as the show’s breakout character. He was nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards and for Best Kiss (with Connor Swindells) – a landmark moment for QPOC.

Sex Education follows a sexually awkward teenager living with his sex therapist mother, and also stars Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey, Patricia Allison, Tanya Reynolds, Aimee Lou Wood, Gillian Anderson, Connor Swindells and Kedar Williams-Sterling.

The first season garnered 40 million viewers in its first week of release, becoming one of the streaming service’s most successful shows in history. It will return for a second season early next year.

GAY TIMES Honours was first established in 2017 as a ceremony to acknowledge those who have made a profound impact on LGBTQ people in the past 12 months. From community trailblazers to highly-visible queer stars, it’s an event that brings together people from all across our community to celebrate, uplift and inspire.

To mark our recent landmark 500th issue as Europe’s longest-running LGBTQ publication, this year’s event is named GAY TIMES Honours 500. It marks the biggest event in our company’s recent history, with more than a thousand people packed into the venue for show-stopping performances by Pabllo Vittar, ALMA, L Devine, VINCINT, Little Gay Brother and DJ sets from Honey Dijon, Jodie Harsh and BBZ.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram to be part of the GAY TIMES Honours 500 action.