The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival.[1] Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried competition presents six awards annually to honour films, actors, screenplays, directors, cinematographers and editors in Canadian cinema. Initially, only films that were having their world premieres at Whistler were eligible for the competition,[2] although this requirement was soon dropped as the festival had difficulty attracting entrants who were willing to forego larger film festivals such as TIFF or the FNC, and thereafter films selected for competition only had to be a regional premiere within the Western Canada region.
From the award's inauguration until 2015, six films were selected for competition each year, except in 2012 when eight films competed; in 2015, the festival dropped size limits, and since then the competition has typically included between 10 and 20 films per year.
The award is named in memory of Canadian film director Phillip Borsos.[3]
The festival also presents several other awards, which are not part of the Borsos Competition.