The12th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by theAcademy of Canadian Cinema & Television to honour achievements in Canadian film, television and digital media production in 2023. They were held at theCanadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto from 28–31 May 2024, as part of Canadian Screen Week, with highlights of the final gala ceremony broadcast in aCBC Television special on 31 May 2024.^[1]

Nominations were announced on 6 March;^[2] television dramaLittle Bird led in overall nominations with 19, whileMatt Johnson's filmBlackBerry received 17 nominations—becoming the most-nominated film in the history of the ceremony.^[3] BothBlackBerry andLittle Bird would win the most awards in their respective categories.

Due to venue availability issues in Toronto, the ceremony was delayed from a provisional April scheduling to May 2024. In addition, the ceremonies were held at theCanadian Broadcasting Centre rather thanMeridian Hall as in past years.^[4] Academy CEOTammy Frick later stated that this scheduling also aligned the ceremony with the televisionupfronts season, as well as the period of industry activity between theCannes Film Festival and theBanff World Media Festival.^[5] To streamline the event, the ceremony for children's and animated programming was discontinued, with its awards dispersed into the six remaining ceremonies.^[4]

CBC Television would air an hour-long special on 31 May, featuring highlights of the final gala. In response to criticism over the format and delayed broadcast of the special for the previous year's ceremonies (which aired on the Sunday following the ceremony), the Academy announced that the special would instead air on the same day. Frick stated that broadcasting the special on the same day as the final gala would help preserve its "energy" and immediacy, while still allowing time to edit out "industry-heavy elements" that may not be interesting to television audiences.^[6][4]

The main gala was hosted by comedianMae Martin.^[7] The Canadian Screen Week events were hosted by Sarah Davis (news, entertainment and sports),Andrew Phung (television craft),Keshia Chanté (television program and performance),Anne-Marie Mediwake (documentary, factual, lifestyle, and reality), and Sabine Daniel (cinematic arts).

TheBest Lead Performance in a Film andBest Supporting Performance in a Film categories were split into separate categories for comedy and drama films. They were also accompanied by a new award for Best Performance in a Live Action Short Drama. The number of nominees in each acting category remain at eight.^[8] The categories for best director, best original and adapted screenplay and the John Dunning Award for best first film are now allowed to name six nominees instead of five if the number of eligible submissions reaches or exceeds nine. A new category was also introduced for Best Sound Design in a Documentary.^[8]

The award for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series were split into separate new lead and supporting awards, and new awards were introduced for best ensemble performance in comedy and drama.^[8]

The former category for Best Talk Program or Series, which considered talk and interview programming regardless of its topic and format, was split into distinct new categories: Best Talk Series for entertainment and cultural talk series, and Best Political News Program or Series for news-oriented shows. One-off entertainment talk specials which may formerly have been considered under the old category are now restricted to Best Entertainment News Program or Series.^[8]

A new category for Best Comedy Special was introduced, with stand-up comedy specials becoming ineligible for Best Variety or Entertainment Special and Best Performing Arts Program as a result.^[8]

Adult animation productions became eligible for Best Comedy Series.^[8]

A new category was introduced for Best Picture Editing in Animation.^[8]

The awards for Best Virtual Reality Game and Best Children's Video Game, which existed as distinct submission categories but had not consistently been presented in recent years due to high variability in the number of eligible submissions, were discontinued. All games in those categories will remain eligible for the main Best Video Game category.^[8]

A new category was introduced for Best Picture Editing in a Web Program or Series.^[8]

The first special award recipients were announced in March 2024:^[9] Several further special awards were announced in early April,^[10] with a third round of honorees announced on May 1.^[11]

• Lifetime Achievement:Marilyn Denis^[9]
• Board of Directors Tribute:John Brunton,Jeff Barnaby^[9]
• Changemaker Award:Tonya Williams^[9]
• Radius Award:Devery Jacobs,Lamar Johnson^[10]
• Gordon Sinclair Award:Paul Workman^[11]
• Sustainable Production Award:Science North,Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope^[10]
• Academy Icon Award:Denis Villeneuve^[11]
• Industry Leadership Award:Michael MacMillan^[11]
• Earle Grey Award:Patrick Huard^[11]

One major category is currently presented without regard to the distinction between film, television or web media content.

Reviewing the television broadcast, Barry Hertz ofThe Globe and Mail wrote that while it still had significant problems, it had succeeded in being better than the previous year's "utter disaster".^[17] He noted a technical snafu which left viewers who were watching the broadcast on theCBC Gem streaming platform unable to hear the sound for the first few minutes, and the fact that the condensed one-hour format had left too many memorable moments from the presentations on the cutting-room floor, but praised Martin as a solid host who "anchored the show with an energetic, sharp mix of self-deprecation and confidence", and noted that the highlights of the broadcast were the heartfelt special award acceptance speeches ofTonya Williams andDenis Villeneuve.^[17] While granting that the 2024 awards' scheduling in May was attributable to the last-minute venue change, he also felt that even the typical April scheduling no longer makes sense, and opined that the awards should shift to being presented in February to capitalize on award-season energy, or September to capitalize on the industry activity around theToronto International Film Festival.^[17]

• Canadian Screen Awards
• 2023 awards in Canada
• 2023 film awards
• 2023 television awards
• 2023 in Canadian cinema
• 2023 in Canadian television
• 2024 in Ontario
• April 2024 in Canada

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