Main Craft Awards Entry Guidance

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The Ember Awards are presented by Screen Craft Guild Cymru, the trading name of SCREEN CRAFT GUILD Cyf.

 

Introduction

 

The Ember Awards celebrate excellence in production design, costume design, and hair and make-up across film and television in Wales.

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The awards are designed to recognise the creative judgement, authorship, skill and craft of practitioners whose work shapes what we see on screen.

 

Main Craft Award Disciplines

 

Entries may be submitted in the following three craft disciplines:

• Production Design

• Costume Design

• Hair & Make-up Design

 

Entrants submit by discipline only. Entrants do not choose the final award category at the point of submission.

 

Award Structure

The Ember Awards include nine main craft awards.

 

Adaptive Craft Categories — 6 Awards

• Production Design × 2

• Costume Design × 2

• Hair & Make-up × 2

 

Short Form Categories — 3 Awards

• Production Design × 1

• Costume Design × 1

• Hair & Make-up × 1

 

Short Form is defined as work with a total running time of up to 40 minutes, including credits.

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Adaptive Award Categories

The Ember Awards use an adaptive category model to reflect the range, scale and nature of work being produced within the Welsh screen industry.

 

Rather than applying fixed categories before entries are received, the Guild Committee will review all eligible entries after submissions close and define the final award categories based on the balance and characteristics of the work submitted.

 

This approach is intended to ensure that work is judged fairly and in context, recognising the diversity of creative approaches across production design, costume design, and hair and make-up.

 

Categories may include distinctions such as:

• Film and Television

• Contemporary and Period / Heightened design

• Other appropriate groupings that support fair and meaningful comparison

 

Final award categories will be communicated to voting members before the first voting round.

 

How to Enter the Main Craft Awards

Each craft entry must include:

• clear identity of the credited entrant / nominee

• written entrant statement, maximum 2400 characters

• up to 10 supporting images of the submitted work

• one hero image in 4:5 portrait format

• image credits, where required

• viewing link to the submitted work

• viewing password or access information, where required

• AI use declaration

• rights and permissions declarations

• entry payment

For television series, only one episode per series may be submitted.

 

Before You Begin

Please read this guidance and the full Terms and Conditions, and Awards FAQ before completing your entry.

We recommend reading through the full form before you begin, as incomplete draft entries cannot be saved. Please make sure you have all required information and materials ready before starting, including:

• entrant / nominee details

• production details

• membership information

• budget or scale information, where relevant

• written entrant statement

• up to 10 images of the submitted work

• hero image in 4:5 portrait format

• image credits

• viewing link and password / access details

• any relevant AI use information

• payment method

 

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be completed. Other fields are optional, but please provide any information that applies to your entry.

 

Your entry will only be valid once both the completed form and entry payment have been received. Incomplete entries, or entries without confirmed payment by the closing deadline, may not be accepted.

 

Optional Budget and Scale Information

Entrants may provide contextual information to help the Awards Committee understand the scale and resources available to the department.

This may include:

• production budget band, where known

• department budget

• schedule limitations

• scale or complexity of the work

• team size, where relevant

• production constraints

• any mismatch between the overall production scale and the department resources available

 

This information is not mandatory, but where provided, it will help the Committee assign entries to adaptive categories for fairer comparison.

 

Where budget information is provided, entrants are encouraged to include the total design department budget covering the full production or series.

 

This may include:

• non-contractual departmental labour, including dailies

• materials and build costs

• production-specific craft resources

 

This should exclude:

• Head of Department fees

• facilities, locations and production-wide costs, such as transport or accommodation

• VAT

 

For episodic series, entrants shoud use the total department budget for the full series, net of VAT, divided by the number of episodes. This proportional per-episode value may be used by the Committee to assist in classification.

 

This information will remain confidential and will be used solely by the Committee to support fair and appropriate category allocation.

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AI Use in Submitted Work

All craft entries must complete the AI declaration section of the entry form.

 

Entries should represent work that is primarily conceived, designed and realised by the credited individual(s).

 

Where AI tools were used in any part of the conception, design, production or post-production process, entrants must explain how AI was used and whether that use was limited, supporting, experimental, or materially influential in shaping the final creative outcome.

 

Entrants should also declare whether AI use was their own creative decision, a department decision, or required/requested by the production company, studio, producer or another party.

 

Eligibility Summary

Entries are open to individuals who are current Screen Craft Guild Cymru members and who meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Ember Awards Terms and Conditions.

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Judging and Voting

Voting for the main craft award categories is conducted by Full Voting Members of the Guild.

Voting is conducted through a secure online voting system.

The voting process uses a two-stage model:

 

Round One

Determines the nominees in each category.

 

Round Two

Determines the winner from the nominees.

 

Voting uses a 3–2–1 points system unless otherwise determined by the Guild for a specific category:

• 1st choice: 3 points

• 2nd choice: 2 points

• 3rd choice: 1 point

 

Voting members are expected to act with integrity, avoid conflicts of interest, and vote only where sufficiently informed.

 

Entry Fees

Short Form: £24 inc VAT

Mid / High Scale Productions: £48 inc VAT

All fees are payable at the point of entry and are subject to confirmation.

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2026 Awards Timeline

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Monday June 1 - Open for Entries 

Friday 17 July, 5.00pm - Entries Close

Friday 31 July - Adaptive Categories and long list announced

Saturday 1 August - Round 1 Voting Opens (open for 4 weeks)

Friday 28 August, 5.00pm - Round 1 Voting Closes 

Friday 4 September - Nomination Announcement Event

Saturday September 5 - Round 2 Voting Opens (open for 2 weeks)

Friday 18 September, 5.00pm - Round 2 Voting Closes

Sunday 27 September - The Ember Awards Ceremony

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