The SIGNIS Awards for films and television will be bigger and better this year with the introduction of three new award categories. “We’ve introduced three new awards for best single TV episode, short film and best TV documentary for the 2011 competition,” said Father Benedict Joseph, director of the Sri Lankan branch of the World Catholic Association for Communication in Colombo. It is hoped the introduction of the new awards will help attract more newcomers to the film and TV industry, and help boost the prestige of Sri Lankan international film festivals in the future. The next big film festival is due to be held in Kandy, June 22 to June 26. It’s a highly competitive, albeit expensive industry, the priest said, so this may encourage small or independent filmmakers or those just starting out in the industry, to become more actively involved. “Most of our filmmakers enter the industry by producing short films,” Givantha Arthasad, a prominent filmmaker and a SIGNIS-Sri Lanka jury member explained. The inclusion of the three new awards means there will be 18 awards up for grabs. “Apart from the new categories we will also give out lifetime achievement prizes to two prominent Sri Lankan artists for their contributions to cinema TV and radio,” Father Joseph said. The SIGNIS-Sri Lanka Awards for film and television are eagerly awaited in the country in a similar way the Academy Awards are in the US. They are due to be held in September this year. SR13776.1647