(Toronto) The event celebrating the best of Canadian film and television is going genderless.
Posted at 1:24 p.m.
The Canadian Screen Awards will drop categories dedicated to male and female performers next year in favor of categories that are not divided by gender, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television has announced.
The organization says the decision to move to gender-neutral performance categories is intended to “better reflect the diversity of talent” in the country.
Instead of four categories of films that each honor male or female interpretation in a leading role and male or female interpretation in a supporting role, there will be two categories rewarding “best leading role” and “best support “.
Several genre-based TV categories are also renamed in the same way. For example, best male or female lead in a comedy simply becomes “best lead, comedy”.
Previously, each category had five people competing, but now the Academy says eight performers will be considered.
She adds that the change follows “extensive consultation work carried out over five years with some 40 key industry bodies”.
“The Canadian Academy believes that this is a necessary step towards an equitable audiovisual industry, which will allow all Canadian performers to have the chance to be honored by their peers,” said Academy President John Young said in a statement on Thursday.
This decision is part of a movement within the industry. The Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Awards and Independent Spirit Awards recently announced gender-neutral acting categories for its 2023 edition.
The Junos, Grammys, British Independent Film Awards and MTV Movie & TV Awards have also gone down this path.
The non-gender acting categories were adopted in 2019 by the Canadian Screen Awards in the Digital Media Sector.
“The Canadian Academy recognizes that it is its duty to ensure that every performer has the opportunity to fully participate in our awards programs and the industry as a whole. This change brings us closer to that goal,” said the Academy’s interim CEO, Louis Calabro, in a statement.