The Critics’ Choice Awards were initiated in December 1995 by entertainment reporters and film critics Rod Lurie and Joey Berlin. They joined forces to create the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) that would grow to become the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing over 300 television, radio and online critics. Lurie and Berlin saw the Critics’ Choice Awards as a more populist alternative to the Golden Globe Awards.
The inaugural Critics’ Choice Awards were held on January 22, 1996. The winners included Kevin Bacon, Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Emma Tompson, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, and Mira Sorvino. The films that won the Critics’ Choice Awards that year were Sense and Sensibility (Best Picture), Babe (Best Family Film), and Il Postino: The Postman (Best Foreign Language Film).
In 2011, the newly created Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) launched the Critics’ Choice Television Awards. To differentiate the Critics’ Choice Awards from the Critics’ Choice Television Awards, the word Movie was added to their name. Both sets of awards are now known collectively as the Critics’ Choice Awards.
As of 2017, the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards are presented in over two dozen categories. Nominees are selected by BFCA members during a week-long nominating period. The nominees are announced in December. The winners are chosen by voting and revealed at the annual ceremony that takes place in January.
The awards ceremony is held in South California. Past venues have included the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Hollywood Palladium, and the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. The event airs live on television.
Photo: criticschoice.com
