For those who don’t know the event: the FilmLight Colour Awards are an industry competition rather than a grading application. Organised by colour-science and finishing developer FilmLight, the programme accepts work produced on any grading platform, connects colourists with cinematographers and professional societies, and gives each category winner a one-year subscription to Baselight M.
A late extension and a documentation lag
FilmLight’s official mailing of 30 July says that the submission deadline for the 2026 FilmLight Colour Awards has been extended to 10 August. It also says that the shortlist will be revealed in the autumn, followed by the winners’ ceremony at ToruńCAMERIMAGE in November. Entrants can register and upload work through the submission portal.
Platform-neutral entry
The competition is now in its sixth year and remains open to colourists using any grading system. Entry does not require Baselight, a FilmLight facility or a specific colour-management pipeline. The application must be submitted by the colourist who performed the grade, or by someone from the post facility acting on that colourist’s behalf. There is no entry fee. So, if you are REAAAALLY REAAALY good, you code something to do that colour work or if you are a masochist, MS Paint.
The awards are organised by a software developer, but it is a platform-neutral craft competition. filmlight.awardcore.com rather than the technical gatekeeping: each winner receives a one-year Baselight M subscription. This is a time-limited subscription, not a permanent licence, and it does not retroactively turn every submitted project into a Baselight workflow.
Preparing the judging encode
FilmLight’s technical specifications identify a QuickTime MOV encoded as ProRes 422 HQ as the preferred delivery. The requested image specification is 1920 x 1080, Rec.709 at gamma 2.4 for a dim-surround mastering environment, using the project’s native frame rate. FilmLight prefers a non-fractional frame rate, such as 24 rather than 23.976, where applicable. MP4 files encoded with H.264 or H.265 are also accepted.
Rights and confidentiality
Entrants should hold the necessary rights to submit their work. The material is not scheduled for public screening during judging and is restricted to FilmLight’s administrative staff and jury members on a secured platform. If an entry is nominated, FilmLight says it will contact the rights holder before using moving images for promotional purposes.
That policy is particularly relevant to projects whose public release falls between the entry deadline and 30 September eligibility cut-off. The rules say those projects will remain private and that FilmLight will not announce them without the applicant’s prior agreement. Facilities handling unreleased episodic or feature material should nevertheless reconcile the competition’s assurances with their own client contracts, studio-security policies and watermarking requirements.
The first 15 jurors
FilmLight has announced the first group of 15 jurors for 2026: cinematographers Katelin Arizmendi, Chung-hoon Chung, Jeff Cronenweth, Natalie Kingston, Xiaolong Liu, Ula Pontikos and Adolpho Veloso; colourists Tony D’Amore, Franziska Heinemann, László Kovács, Edgar Lebron, Malu Miranda, Jin-young Park and Máté Ternyik; and Sphere Studio colourist Paul Lear. The group combines cinematography, theatrical and episodic grading, commercials, music videos, documentary work and large-format immersive production. The full jury and Jury President are still to be announced.
The rules schedule judging from 17 August to 6 October 2026. If the 10 August extension remains operative, this leaves one week between final submission and the published start of jury assessment. Better make it good!
Recognition and the Baselight prize
Winners receive publicity support, an invitation and pass to the ToruńCAMERIMAGE ceremony, and a one-year subscription to Baselight M. Nominees also receive a festival pass.
Submission priorities
Entrants should register on the submission portal, confirm which deadline appears in their account, prepare a clean judging encode without slates or credits, and check the category-specific running-time rules before uploading. Facilities should also obtain client approval and prepare supporting material that explains the creative and technical decisions without turning the case study into a second feature.
