Directors Guild of America Announces Schedule and Key Dates for DGA Awards, Awards Categories

DGA Board Approves Changes to DGA Awards

Earlier this year, DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter appointed an Awards Committee, comprised of National Board members, to address member concerns that have come up in the last seven years since the previous Committee served in 2018. The aim was to review the current DGA Awards categories and criteria with the objective of making changes that would result in a better or more fair awards landscape. In June, the National Board voted on the recommendations put forward by the Awards Committee’s findings.

Previously, multiple genres competed against each other in the same categories, resulting in certain genres rarely receiving nominations. Separating genres will enable Directors to more fairly compete against Directors doing similar types of work.

The following is a summary of the key changes:

• Movies for Television and Limited Series have been separated into two categories and
• Anthology Series entries, which previously competed in the Dramatic Series category, are now included with Limited Series. Anthology Series will be defined as a program where a season has a complete, non-recurring storyline, where no characters from prior or planned seasons appear or are referenced.
• Documentary feature-length films and Documentary Series have been separated. In addition, News, which was combined alongside Variety, Talk and Sports previously, will now compete as part of the new Documentary Series/News category.
• Variety Programs/Specials has become a single, stand-alone award.
• Talk Programs/Specials (a small category with considerable variance in directing), have the option of submitting under Documentary Series/News or Variety Programming depending on the project.
• Sports Programs/Specials has become a single, stand-alone award.
• Reality will now also include Quiz & Game Programs/Specials.

Lastly, due to an increasing decline in submissions, the Children’s Programs category has been discontinued.

In addition, to address the uneven number of submissions from category to category and to emphasize the spirit of competition, the National Board has voted to have the number of Nominees be more reflective of the number of entries received that make up the initial ballot. Categories with 39 or fewer entries will receive three nominees and categories with 40 or greater entries will remain at the maximum of five nominees.

Should you have any questions regarding the above changes, we encourage you to
reach out to the DGA Awards Office at (310) 289-2038 or email Awards@dga.org.

78th Annual DGA Awards Schedule

The 78th Annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Theatrical Feature Film and Michael Apted Award for First-Time Theatrical Feature Film nominees will be announced on Thursday, January 8, 2026 and Television, Commercial, and Documentary nominees will be announced on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Online voting will begin on Monday, December 15, 2025.

The complete schedule of key dates is included below. 

Theatrical Feature Film Award

Television and Commercials Awards

Michael Apted Award for First-Time Theatrical Feature Film

Documentary Film Award

78th Annual DGA Awards

Changes to DGA FYC Screeners:

The DGA is partnering with Indee Technologies to create an exclusive screening platform/app for DGA Awards’ Theatrical Feature Film screeners. Members will now be able to visit one portal – Directors Guild FYC – in order to view their screeners during awards season. Physical screeners will no longer be permitted.

Additionally, networks/distributors will have the new option of sending screeners and invitations in all television categories.

The Guild will continue to operate its extensive theatrical screening program at its state-of-the-art theaters in Los Angeles and New York.

If you have any questions regarding screeners, please call the
DGA Web Support line at 310-289-2082 or email Awards@dga.org.

About the DGA:  

In the eight decades since its founding in 1936, the DGA has fought for the economic and creative rights of its members; protected their ability to financially benefit from the reuse of their work; established strong pension and health plans; and established jurisdiction in new technologies and distribution platforms. Today we represent more than 19,500 Directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, new media and other audiovisual media.