The Toronto Film Critics Association is opening its doors for the first time, and will present a new prize for Canadian film at its annual awards dinner.

The group announced this week it will present a new award for the year’s best Canadian movie on Jan. 6. The award, which is sponsored by Rogers Communications, comes with a $10,000 cheque for the film’s director and is open to all domestic features released theatrically in 2008.

The TFCA dinner has traditionally been a private affair, but this time will be open to the industry and media. It will be hosted by Toronto International Film Festival co-director Cameron Bailey.

‘Given Toronto’s stature as a film capital, the pre-eminence of TIFF, and the vitality of film criticism in this city, it’s only fitting to have an awards dinner on a par with events held by critics’ groups in New York and Los Angeles,’ said TFCA president and Maclean‘s film critic Brian D. Johnson in a statement.

The slate of TFCA award winners in other categories will be announced on Dec. 17, along with the three finalists for the best Canadian prize.