2025 Screen Nova Scotia Awards Gala

THE SCREEN NOVA SCOTIA AWARDS – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

Submissions: To submit a film, television or animation production for consideration for the 2025 Screen Nova Scotia Awards Gala, please fill out the online entry form HERE. Nominees and winners will be selected by an independent jury comprised of respected members of the screen industry.

Best Feature Film
– Entrant (Producer, Director, or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– Production must be at a minimum 20% owned by a Nova Scotia production company.
– Feature film must have aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening, theatrical release, and/or on broadcast television.

Best Documentary Film
– Entrant (Producer, Director, or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– Production must be at a minimum 20% owned by a Nova Scotia production company.
– Documentary must have aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening, theatrical release, and/or on broadcast television.
– Minimum run time is 25 minutes.

Best Short Film: Category includes fiction, documentary, and animated shorts.
– Entrant (Producer, Director, or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– Production must be at a minimum 20% owned by a Nova Scotia production company.
– Film must have aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening or theatrical release.
– Maximum run time is 25 minutes.

Best TV Series – Scripted: Category is defined as a weekly series that is scripted.
– Entrant (Producer, Director, or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– The submitted episode must have aired on broadcast television or a recognized online streaming platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024.
– Only one episode needs to be submitted for consideration.

Best TV Series – Unscripted: Category is defined as a weekly series that is factual or documentary.
– Entrant (Producer, Director, or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– The submitted episode must have aired on broadcast television or a recognized online streaming platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024.
– Only one episode needs to be submitted for consideration.

Best Animated Production
Note: this year we are expanding this category to include feature films as well as television/web series.
– Entrant (Producer, Director, Production Company, or Animation Studio) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– Content must be animated in Nova Scotia.
– Submitted content must have aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening or theatrical release and/or on broadcast television and/or a recognized online streaming platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024.
– For television/web series, only one episode needs to be submitted for consideration.

NEW! Best Service Production
– Entrant (NS Producer or Production Company) is required to be a full SNS member to submit.
– Open to both feature films, television series, and MOWs.
– Film or television episode must have aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening or theatrical release (feature) and/or on broadcast television or a recognized online streaming platform (television episode, MOW). For television, only one episode needs to be submitted for consideration.

If you would like to submit a production for awards consideration but are not yet a Screen Nova Scotia member, you can become one HERE. Please note that different membership levels have different benefits.

THE SCREEN NOVA SCOTIA AWARD FOR GROUNDBREAKING PERFORMANCE – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

Presented by Screen Nova Scotia, this award shines a spotlight on an outstanding performance by a non-union performer in a film or television/web series. Although the screen industry is taking steps towards being more accessible and inclusive, we recognize that there are still barriers to entry, which include access to union and guild memberships. This award will provide an opportunity to recognize and celebrate our emerging, diverse Nova Scotia talent who are delivering powerful and outstanding performances but are not yet eligible for the ACTRA Maritimes awards.

Now in its fourth year, this award is open to all non-union performers who meet the below eligibility criteria and identify as diverse (this includes those who self identify as Black; Indigenous; as a Person of Colour; as a LGBTQIA2S+ individual, or as a person with disabilities).

Voting Process: Nominees and winners will be selected by an independent jury of comprised of experienced and respected members of the screen industry who also identify as members of an underrepresented community.

Eligibility Criteria: Please read the below information carefully before submitting.
– Performances for consideration must be from productions (feature film, short film, TV series, web series) that screened/aired between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2024, as a festival screening, theatrical release, on broadcast television, and/or on a reputable nationally recognized streaming platform.
– The production must have been shot in Nova Scotia (although it is not required to be a Nova Scotia-owned production).
– The performer must be non-union and otherwise ineligible for the ACTRA Maritimes performance awards.

Please note: The ACTRA Maritimes Awards for Outstanding Performances are managed directly by ACTRA and are separate from the Screen Nova Scotia Awards. They are presented as part of our gala event (similar to the Women in Film and Television Atlantic Award for Best Director). For more info on the ACTRA awards, please click HERE.

Submissions: Please fill out the online entry form HERE to submit a groundbreaking performance. Please only submit one scene with a maximum length of five minutes.

THE SCREEN NOVA SCOTIA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

Introduced in 2022, this award celebrates the outstanding achievements of our Nova Scotia crew in three categories: cinematography, editing, and screenwriting. Over a three-year cycle, this rotating award will shine a spotlight on professional cinematographers, editors and writers whose work in our province is inspiring and influential. In 2025, this award will honour Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

2022: Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – winner Kevin Fraser
2023: Outstanding Achievement in Editing – winner Kimberlee McTaggart
2024: Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting – winner Taylor Olson
2025: Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – nominations now open!

Submissions: Please fill out the online entry form HERE. You can either nominate someone’s work you want to recognize or submit a self-nomination. This award will act as a complement to the Film Crew Excellence Award (see below) with a goal to further highlight the incredible work being done by Nova Scotia’s world-class crew and craftspeople. Nominees and winners will be selected by an independent jury comprised of respected members of the screen industry.

Eligibility Criteria: Please read the below information carefully, as this award has different criteria than other categories.
– Cinematographer (entrant/nominee) must be a Nova Scotia resident.
– Entrant can submit a clip – 10 minutes max – from one production (feature film, short film, documentary film, television series, web series) OR a brief collection/reel of work.
– Submitted productions/work must have screened/aired during the past three years (Jan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2024) and must have been shot in Nova Scotia. This three-year window will allow for the editing and screenwriting done this year to still be eligible in 2026 and 2027, as the award rotates through the three categories.

The deadline for nominations is March 7, 2025.

THE FILM CREW EXCELLENCE AWARD – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

This award, now in its 13th year, was developed in partnership with the local unions and guilds and recognizes the outstanding work happening behind the camera in Nova Scotia’s screen industry. The professionalism, innovation, and ingenuity of the crews in Nova Scotia are a major contributor to the province’s film industry, and this award honours their contribution in maintaining Nova Scotia as one of Canada’s premier film destinations.

The Film Crew Excellence Award will recognize an individual crew person or team for outstanding creative enterprise within Nova Scotia’s screen-based industry. The 2024 Film Crew Excellence Award went to art director and production designer Ewen Dickson. A skilled carpenter and member of DGC Maritimes, Dickson has worked in the Nova Scotia film and television industry for over 25 years on countless productions of all sizes, genres, and budgets. His credits include Kids vs Aliens, Books of Blood, Moonshine, Diggstown, and Hobo with a Shotgun, as well as countless short films.

Nominations for the 2025 Film Crew Excellence Award should include:
– The name(s), position(s) and contact information for the nominee(s). Nominees do not need to be union members.
– A description of their use of innovation and commitment to the Nova Scotia screen industry.
– Up to two supporting documents can be provided for jury review. Ideally, we would love to receive visual elements such as video clips and photos.

Please note: All nominations will be confidential and only the winner will be announced live at the awards gala. This will better allow for talented crew members to be nominated for jury review year-over-year. Nominations can be submitted via email to tara@screennovascotia.com. All nominations will be reviewed and deliberated by an independent jury of industry professionals. The deadline for nominations is March 7, 2025.

THE COMMUNITY RECOGNITION AWARD – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

In our industry, there’s no way we could do what we do without the contributions and long-term support of key community members who rise to the occasion at every opportunity. Introduced in 2017, the Community Recognition Award celebrates our connection to the communities we film in and the people who consistently make great things happen for Nova Scotia’s screen industry.

If you know someone (an individual or a team of people) in our community who has been a long-time industry supporter, nominate them for the Screen Nova Scotia Community Recognition Award! Nominations can be sent via email to alex@screennovascotia.com and should include:

– Name and contact info of nominee;
– A statement on their role in our community and why you are nominating them.

Please note: nominees for this award should be active supporters of the screen industry, but not directly involved in film and television production. The 2024 Community Recognition Award recipient was Janet Hawkwood, a former lead instructor of the Screen Arts program at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). Hawkwood was recognized for her dedication to nurturing, promoting, and elevating the local film scene through mentoring hundreds of emerging filmmakers over her 20 year tenure at the college. She was pivotal in the development of the two-year filmmaking diploma at NSCC that has since served as a launching pad for many individuals who have gone on to create impactful and critically acclaimed work.

The deadline for nominations is March 7, 2025.

WIFT-AT AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR – 2025 ENTRIES ARE OPEN

Presented by Women in Film & Television – Atlantic (WIFT-AT), the Award for Best Director honours the outstanding achievement of a WIFT-AT member based in Nova Scotia. Directors from across Nova Scotia are creating outstanding screen-based projects, and WIFT-AT wants to celebrate these remarkable artists and their work by shining a light on one accomplished filmmaker who is highly deserving of recognition.

WIFT-AT encourages Nova Scotia-based directors to submit their screen-based projects of any genre, length, or format. The project must have first screened/aired between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, as a festival screening, in a theatrical release, on broadcast television, or on a reputable nationally recognized streaming platform.

For eligibility criteria and entry information, please visit the WIFT-AT website HERE.

SPONSORSHIP/PARTNER OPPORTUNITIES 

With a new and exciting venue change, this year’s show will continue the tradition of recognizing the immense talent of our community in Nova Scotia while bringing together a diverse group of audience members. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of our generous partners and sponsors. Their financial support allows us to produce a world-class event that celebrates and promotes NS stories and talent. In addition to the celebration of achievements, the awards are an essential networking event where industry professionals, producers, and talent come together, helping to fuel the growth of our local industry. The awards gala is the one night of the year where the entire Nova Scotia screen industry and community gathers together, providing our sponsors with direct access to potential clients and customers, and reinforcing their position as a supporter of the NS film industry.

Sponsoring the Screen Nova Scotia Awards Gala offers a range of tangible benefits – boosting visibility, aligning with prestige and creativity, engaging with targeted audiences, and creating opportunities for networking. Interested in getting involved? Reach out now for sponsorship packages and rates: (902) 229-1499 or alex@screennovascotia.com.