Awards are determined by a Professional Jury consisting of filmmakers, critics, teachers, community leaders, and parents, who award prizes in all categories including the Oscar®-qualifying Best Animated and Best Live-Action Short Film categories.

The CICFF also hosts a Youth Jury (ages 14-19) and Children’s Jury (ages 7-14) led by a team of media educators who meet separately from the Professional Jury and award their own respective awards in all categories.

Special awards are determined by separate jury groups.

AWARDS

Award categories include: Live-action Feature, Animated Feature, Live-action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Live-action Television Production, and Animated Television Production. Prizes may not be awarded in all categories each year.

Special Prizes that may be awarded include: Best of the Fest Prize, Milos Stehlik Global Impact Award, Best Production for Early Childhood (Ages 2 to 5), Programmer’s Choice Award, Teacher’s Choice Award, Parent’s Choice Award, Girl Empowerment Award, and the STEM Award.

Awards are announced at the conclusion of each Festival. Please note that awards are given to the director of the film, unless otherwise specified on the entry form.

ACADEMY (OSCAR©) QUALIFICATION

Films that win first prize from the Professional Jury in the category of Live-action Short Film or Animated Short Film are eligible for Academy Awards consideration.