The Bijou Awards were a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

award for non-feature films, launched in 1981 but presented only once before being discontinued. Created as a joint project of the

Academy of Canadian Cinema An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and the Canadian Film and Television Association (CFTA), the awards were essentially a new home for many of the categories, particularly but not exclusively the ones for

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

s, that had been dropped after the old

Canadian Film Awards The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

transitioned into the

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

in 1980,Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''.

Stoddart Publishing Stoddart Publishing was a Canadian book publisher and distributor, owned by Jack Stoddart, which ceased operations in 2002. History In 1967, General Publishing purchased the Musson imprint, based in Canada, from British publisher Hodder & Stough ...

, 2000. . pp. 135-139. as well as for the CFTA's trade and craft awards in areas such as television advertising and educational films. The ceremony was held on October 28, 1981, at

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, and hosted by Nancy White. The awards were not presented in 1982, as the Academy of Canadian Cinema undertook detailed planning toward introducing permanent television awards. In 1983, the Academy formally proposed that the Bijou Awards replace the

ACTRA Awards The ACTRA Awards are Canadian accolades presented since 1972 to celebrate excellence in cinema, television and radio industries.Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in th ...

, the Academy's permanent awards for television production, were launched in 1986, and in 2012 the Genies and the Geminis were merged into the contemporary

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

. Some later sources have occasionally misattributed the Bijou winners as Genie or Gemini winners.For example, the headline "Hard life, hard film: true story of Linda M is sequel to Gemini winner Nose and Tina" (''

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'', October 17, 1995) mistakenly ascribes a Bijou winner listed here as a Gemini winner.

Winners and nominees

References

{{Canadian Screen Awards 1981 in Canadian cinema 1981 in Canadian television Awards established in 1981 Predecessors of the Canadian Screen Awards