BAFTA has made tweaks to the voting regulations and eligibility criteria for its 2023 Film Awards. Scroll down for the changes in full.

Primarily, the changes give more power to voting members in the performance and director categories. Last year’s awards were praised for being strong on diversity but there was some criticism that voting juries had too much sway over nominees in certain categories.

For the 2023 awards, there will be an equal number of voting-based nominees and jury-based nominees in each acting category, while the directing category will comprise two vote-based nominees and four jury-based nominees.

The BAFTA longlists will be reduced in size for best film, all craft categories and Outstanding British Film. This has been done to ensure members have enough time to watch all movies.

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There is also a change being made to producer eligibility. BAFTA is working closely with the PGA, and producers eligible for nomination in the best film and Outstanding British Film categories will be as determined by the PGA. Producers in the Outstanding British Film category can appeal for inclusion if they don’t have PGA credentials.

In light of some other UK and international awards ceremonies introducing genderless categories, we asked the organisation whether it would consider going down a similar route.

A BAFTA spokesperson told us: “We support and are engaged in proactive and thoughtful consultation on this subject which will be considered by the BAFTA Film and TV committees when setting the eligibility criteria for our future Awards.”

Voting will continue to take place over three rounds: longlisting, nominations and winners. Also confirmed today are the longlist and nominations announcement dates. The longlist will be unveiled on 6 January 2023, followed by the nominations on 19 January, ahead of the ceremony on 19 February. The BAFTAs this year fall three weeks ahead of the Oscars.

Anna Higgs, Chair of BAFTA Film Committee, said: “We are delighted to confirm our plans for the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2023, as we continue to shine a light on the incredible ingenuity and creativity of filmmakers, and their talented cast and crews. With an ongoing industry-wide focus on meaningful representation, our expansion of entrants’ data on diversity and inclusion will accelerate the progress BAFTA has made in driving positive change globally. As the BAFTA Film Committee, we believe deeply in ensuring our processes are clear and transparent for voters, encouraging as many films as possible to be watched, and levelling the playing field for all. Developed in consultation with industry stakeholders and BAFTA’s global membership, updates to eligibility and voting continue to hold excellence at the heart of all we do, and we are looking forward to celebrating extraordinary British and international talent at the next Film Awards.”

BAFTA Update on awards eligibility and voting rules

Round One Voting (Longlists)

The longlist round was first introduced in 2021 following the BAFTA 2020 Review. Every category in this round is voted on by a Craft Chapter, opt-in Chapter, or Jury, with the exception of Best Film, which is voted for by all film-voting members. Chapters are made up of a minimum of 100 BAFTA members who hold specialist knowledge in the relevant craft. The Film Committee has reviewed the longlists resulting in the following changes for 2023:

· Best Film and all craft categories will now be 10 films (from 15 films)

· Outstanding British Film will now be 15 films (from 20 films)

· Director will now be 16 films – 8 female and 8 male directed films (from 20 films)

· The longlists for Outstanding Debut, British Short Film and British Short Animation categories will remain unchanged (10, 10 and 6 respectively)

Categories

· Performance: the top three performances in all four performance categories in Round One Chapter voting will be automatically nominated, up from two in 2022. The longlisting and nominating jury process remains the same as last year, with the nominating jury selecting the remaining three places on the nominations list (down from four last year) – with the total nominations staying the same at a total of six per category.

· Director: The top two directors (regardless of gender) from the Round One Chapter vote will automatically be nominated. The top five female and top five male directors will be longlisted. The longlisting jury will select the remaining three female and three male directors to create a longlist of 16 (equal gender split). In Round Two, the nominating jury will select four directors to join the two automatically nominated in Round One, creating a nominations list of six.

· Make Up & Hair: eligible candidates for nomination will remain at Head of Department-level. Additional candidates may be submitted – up to a strict maximum of four nominees.

· Producers: producers eligible for nomination in the Best Film and Outstanding British Film categories are as determined by the PGA. From 2023, the PGA will also determine eligible producers in the Animated Film, Documentary, and Film Not in the English Language categories. In these three categories if the PGA has not determined the eligible producers, the maximum number of eligible producers will remain at one (along with the Director), without appeal.

Eligibility dates

The eligibility period, during which films must be released theatrically in UK for the first time, will run from 1 January 2022 to 17 February 2023 for all films, except for those eligible for Documentary and Film Not in the English Language (FNIEL), which can be released up to and including 10 March 2023. Day and date releases will be eligible; however, VOD-only releases are not.

BAFTA View

It will continue to be mandatory for all films in contention to be available on the voting members’ online viewing platform BAFTA View, with further detail on key dates on BAFTA’s website.

Diversity & Inclusion 

BAFTA studies entry data across its Awards to deepen understanding and provide insights into how the screen industries are progressing on diversity and inclusion and highlight areas of underrepresentation. This data informs rule changes as well as interventions and initiatives offered by BAFTA to address sector issues.

· Diversity Standards: BAFTA became the first awards organisation to introduce diversity criteria in 2018. Bolstering previous guidance, entrants across all film categories will be encouraged to submit basic details of their Diversity Standards information. Meeting the BFI Diversity Standards will remain mandatory for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut.

· Bullying & Harassment: Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut entrants will be asked for details of their company policies on bullying and harassment. This is not mandatory but is encouraged to inform future activity and is consistent across all BAFTA Awards, including TV and Games.

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