Eligibility, Rules and Entry

29 July 09

Eligibility and Rules for the Orange British Academy Film Awards including voting procedures, film entry, schedule and rule book.

The next Orange British Academy Film Awards will take place on Sunday 21 February 2010.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards are presented annually to recognise, honour and reward individuals for outstanding achievement in feature films released theatrically in the UK within the awards year.

The Academy also honours individuals with awards in recognition of their contribution to the film industry. These awards are approved by the Film Committee and ratified by the Academy's Board of Trustees.

Official Scrutineers: Deloitte LLP

Eligibility

Films must be released theatrically in the UK, within the Academy awards year:
1 January to 31 December 2009. Films that open between 1 January and 19 February 2010 inclusive may be 'qualified' by Distributors by being screened to Academy Film Voting Members by Thursday 17 December 2009.

To be eligible, a feature film must:

be feature-length, i.e. with a running time exceeding 60 minutes;
receive its first public exhibition or distribution in the UK as a theatrical release;
be exhibited publicly to a paying audience within a commercial cinema in the UK for no fewer than seven consecutive days.

Films from all countries are eligible in all categories, with the exception of Outstanding British Film, Outstanding Debut, Short Film and Short Animation which are for British films only.

There are separate entry criteria for Short Film and Short Animation .

Please refer to the full Rule Book and the additional guidelines for the Special Visual Effects category:

Download the Film Awards Rule Book (212 KB)
Special Visual Effects Guidelines (26 KB)

ENTRY

Films must be entered for consideration by the film’s Distributor or Producer, or by an Academy Film Voting Member. Films must be entered using this online form. Once an Entry Form has been submitted, the film’s Distributor will be asked to complete a Screen Credits Form. Alternatively, the film’s Producer may complete the Screen Credits Form.

On-screen credits are used to determine eligibility in all categories. An Official Screen Credits Form can be downloaded below. The form must be completed in full and received by email to deenam@bafta no later than Thursday 19 November 2009, accompanied by the film’s final opening and closing credit roll and the poster credit block.

Any Screen Credits Forms received after this deadline will not be accepted. If the Distributor does not complete a form, BAFTA cannot guarantee the accuracy of credits listed for voting.

Screen Credits Form (234 KB)

Entry for Outstanding Debut, Short Film and Short Animation requires completion of a separate entry form:

Outstanding Debut Entry Form (185 KB)
Short Film Entry Form (128 KB)
Short Animation Entry Form (124 KB)

More about Short Film and Short Animation

If an entered film is withdrawn after the final Entered Films List is issued to members and voting begins then it cannot be entered in any subsequent year, even if its release date has changed.