SILHOUETTE AWARDS PROCESS

This information contains in depth the special and specific rules and processes of the nominating, voting, rules in the voting process, descriptions of special awards

 

BALLOTING and NOMINATIONS

1. Voting on all achievements shall be restricted to active and life Society members who have been selected to participate in voting for the nominees and winners. A random number of members will be chosen each year and members could be chosen in multiple consecutive years.

2. Before the Society makes the eligible films available to voters, the production companies/film representatives that submit the films are required to verify their films are viewable for the judges assumes all responsibility for errors and omissions. Should a film not be viewable they will be classified as ineligible.

3. Voting for nominations and awards shall be by secret ballot. Ballots shall be made available by the Society, returned to the Society, and held securely until ballots are tallied after which the awards will be created for to be handed out during the ceremony.

4. In the nominations voting, the marking and tabulation of all ballots shall be according to the preferential, weighted average, or reweighted range voting system. Votes for achievements in Films not on the Reminder List will not be counted in the nominations balloting. Tabulation of final ballots shall be according to the plurality or preferential system. No “write-in” votes shall be counted on the final ballot.

5. Not more than five nominations shall be made for each award, except for the Best Picture award, which shall have not more than ten nor fewer than five nominations.

6. In the event a nominated achievement is declared ineligible by the Society, it shall not be replaced, and the category will remain with one less nomination.

7. In the event that an achievement voted an award was done in collaboration, each of the eligible collaborators (up to five) shall receive an award unless the achievement award is being given to a group that has over five collaborators.

8. The Nominating Committee shall provide for screenings or special meetings as may be required to insure a full and fair consideration of all merits of all eligible films.

9. The five acting achievements in each category receiving the highest number of votes shall become the nominations for final voting for the awards.

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VOTING

1. The Nominating Committee will view all submitted eligible films and assign each film a score of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 with the guidelines of 5 (excellent), 4 (good), 3 (fair), 2 (poor), or 1 (ineligible). .

2. If only one film receives an average score of 3 or more, the Nominating Committee may recommend to the Awards Committee that an Honorable Mention Award be given to that film. If more than one film is recommended for Honorable Mention Award then those films will be voted on for this particular award.

3. If no film receives an average score of 3 or more in a particular category, the Nominating Committee shall recommend to the Awards Committee that no award be made for the current Awards year.

SILHOUETTE AWARDS ADVERTISING / PUBLICITY RESTRICTIONS

Only Films that receive nominations or Silhouette Awards may refer to their Society endorsements in advertising and publicity materials. A film that is selected for inclusion in the semifinal round of competition may not identify itself as an “Silhouette Award finalist,” “Silhouette Award shortlist film” or the like in its individual marketing or publicity.

A film selected as a nominee may identify itself as a Silhouette Award Nominee and or Silhouette Award Winner whichever is applicable.

Any film misrepresenting itself shall have their award status revoked.

 

RULES FOR THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR AWARD

1. The pictures receiving the highest number of votes shall become the nominations for final voting for the Best Picture award. .

2. The individual(s) who shall be credited for Silhouette Award purposes must have screen credit of "producer" or "produced by." Persons with screen credits of executive producer, co-producer, associate producer, line producer, produced in association with or any other credit shall not receive nominations or Society statuettes. The nominees will be those three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions. In determining the number of producers eligible for nomination, a bona fide team of not more than two people shall be considered to be a single “producer”. Final determination of the producer nominees for each nominated picture will be made by the Nominating Committee, including the right to name any additional qualified producer as the nominee.

SPECIAL RULES FOR THE SHORT FILM AWARDS

I. DEFINITIONS

A. A short film is defined as an original film that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits and must have a female lead in 75% of the screen time.

B. This excludes for nomination consideration such works as:

•             Any TV or Web episode

•             Any Trailer, Preview, music video, or Advertising type of film

•             A Student film

No experimental films will be accepted.

 

No short film may be submitted more than once for Silhouette Awards consideration. A short film must be submitted in with complete information as stated in rules for submitting.

 

SPECIAL RULES FOR THE TV/WEB AWARDS

The nomination consideration for this category are as follows:

•             A single TV or WEB episode only (No portion of a feature length film, no trailer, nor any other style or length than stated)

No short film may be submitted more than once for Silhouette Awards consideration. A short film must be submitted in with complete information as stated in rules for submitting.

 

RULES FOR THE SPECIALIZED AWARDS (these are at the discretion of the nominating committee and cannot be submitted to- this is an explanation of each award that could be awarded during the ceremony)

I. DEFINITIONS

a. CREATIVE PRODUCER AWARD -This award shall be given to a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of film production.

 

b. HUMANITARIAN AWARD This award shall be given to an individual in the film industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.

 

c. SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

 

c. LIFETIME AWARD This award shall be given to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the film industry or for outstanding service to the Society.

 

d. EMPOWERMENT AWARD

 

e. WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD This award shall be given to the woman who has stood out the previous year for either her work, her cause, or to women in film

 

f. OTHER AWARDS shall be given at such times as in the judgment of the Awards Committee there is a deserving recipient, but not necessarily each year. They shall be in such form as the Awards Committee may decide.

 

In the event of a tie for any category in the final balloting, awards shall be given for both achievements.

 

II. SPECIAL AWARDS NOMINATING AND VOTING PROCEDURES

A. Nominations for the SPECIAL Awards shall be made to the discretion of the Awards Committee. Nominations for all special awards shall name a nominee along with the award for which he or she is proposed.

B. When the nominations are closed, voting shall be conducted by secret ballot. The candidate who receives a majority of the votes shall then stand for further consideration. If a tie occurs, the process of elimination between the tied candidates will occur until a candidate is determined.

C. The one candidate receiving the lowest number of votes shall be eliminated and the remaining candidates shall be voted upon. This process of elimination shall continue until a candidate with a majority is determined.

D. Once a single candidate has emerged. In the absence of possible candidates for an award, no Award will be given for the current Awards year.

E. Such other rules or modifications as may be necessary for the proper conduct of this award shall be adopted by the Awards Committee.

F. No proxies shall be permitted in balloting for any Special Award. No Special Award shall be voted posthumously. No sitting member of the Awards Committee shall be eligible to receive a Special Award.

G. To be considered for these awards, a letter of recommendation must be received by the Nominating Committee by December 31st.

H. The President will appoint a Special Awards Committee to review the candidates, research and create summary reports, and vote the proposed award recipient(s) for Award’s Committee approval.

I. All voting by the Special Awards Committee shall be done by secret ballot.

J. The names of the proposed award recipients, along with the corresponding letters of recommendation and summary reports, will be brought before the Awards Committee for consideration.

K. Presentation of these awards is made at a special event honoring women’s achievements in film.

L. No proxies shall be permitted in balloting for any of these Special Awards. No Special Awards shall be voted posthumously. No individual shall be eligible to receive any particular Special Award more than once.

M. Members can nominate a candidate for a Special Award. They must have the written consent to do so. Any information on the candidate, the special award they are being nominated for, and the reason for the nomination with as much detail and information as possible.