The Canadian Screen Awards are pivoting to virtual and pre-recorded showcases once again due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Beth Janson, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (Canadian Academy), says they had been preparing for an in-person bash at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto until the Omicron wave forced them to recently make the difficult decision to switch to a pre-recorded final awards show on April 10 on CBC and CBC Gem. There will also be nine Canadian Screen Week presentations handing out the bulk of the trophies in the dozens of categories, starting April 4.

“It was kind of devastating, especially for our staff, to have to make this decision again,” Janson tells Playback Daily, adding that they can’t bank on Ontario’s reopening plan going off without a hitch and allowing an in-person gathering in April. “That ‘if’ is just so big, and we’re a charitable organization. It was not a risk that we could take.”

The pandemic first disrupted the Canadian Screen Awards in March 2020, when organizers were forced to cancel that month’s in-person event and quickly put together virtual presentations as COVID-19 started raging. Last year’s event was also online.

The nominees for the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, celebrating homegrown film, television and digital media talents, will be announced on Feb. 15. The broadcast show produced by Makers will feature a selection of prominent categories and tributes to this year’s special award recipients. It will run shorter than usual at 60 minutes and be pre-taped all over Canada and in Los Angeles, with CBC sketch comedy troupe TallBoyz (pictured) opening and closing the show.

Janson says the broadcast will have “a very different look and feel this year” and aim to uniquely celebrate the content that people are — or should be — talking about. It’ll unfold more like a television show with a cast of familiar faces from the Canadian industry and around the world.

“We’re trying to shake up the genre a little bit,” says Janson. “Awards shows ratings have just taken a complete nosedive in the last couple of years. I know there’s lots of thinking about why that is — a lot of players in this space, et cetera, maybe it’s not capturing people who are watching the show elsewhere other than on their television sets.

“But I think more broadly, the generation that is coming up and asserting their dominance in the media space right now, the idea of competing is not as attractive as the idea of celebrating. And we’re trying to reflect that in our show and really look at this gem of an industry that we have that suffers from a discoverability problem. The broadcast show is probably a way to introduce Canadians to, for instance, Canadian films — especially this year when theatres basically haven’t really been opened at all.”

The virtual awards presentations throughout Canadian Screen Week will be split by genre and feature a host in-studio and live acceptance speeches from winners remotely. The presentations will livestream on the Canadian Academy website and its Twitter and YouTube channels. There will also be a virtual Members Lounge, presented by the Canadian Media Producers Association, with panels and discussions with industry experts and artists.

Despite awards shows ratings issues and the ongoing pandemic, Janson thinks “the future is brighter” for these types of events.

“What we’re learning in this virtual world is what resonates with people, and so long as you’re listening to your audience and you’re listening to what resonates with people, your content is only going to get more and more relevant,” she says. “One of the great things about this virtual world is that we have been able to offer our shows up to non-industry members. These industry nights were closed events, only for insiders. And you can now follow how fans are reacting and responding — super fans — to all the intricacies of what goes into making a show.

“So I don’t think this is the end of award shows at all. I think that once we’re able to gather back in person in a zone where everyone is comfortable doing so, what we’ve learned from doing them virtually is going to impact the live show in a way that is going to be great and only going to be more interesting.”