The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) has announced details for the Canadian Screen Awards in April, including Toronto-raised comedy star Samantha Bee as host of the CBC broadcast show and a return to in-person events for the first time in four years.

Canadian Screen Week 2023, celebrating homegrown film, television, and digital media, will take place from April 11 to 16.

Awards shows, cocktail receptions and industry programming will unfold live and in person at Meridian Hall in Toronto from the Tuesday through Friday, while The Canadian Screen Awards with Samantha Bee will be pre-recorded and air on CBC and CBC Gem on the final day of Canadian Screen Week on Sunday (April 16).

A total of seven genre-based award shows will take place from the Tuesday through Friday at Meridian Hall, where there will be red carpets and a Members Lounge with industry conference programming, which will be presented by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).

Tuesday’s ceremony will hand out trophies for sports programming as well as news, documentary and factual categories. Wednesday’s will award the categories of children’s, animation, lifestyle and reality. Thursday’s will award the categories of digital, immersive and cinematic arts. And Friday will feature the comedic and dramatic arts awards.

Katie Lafferty and Roma Ahi of Makers are producing the hour-long broadcast show for the Sunday, which will feature celebrity interviews, highlights from the awards presentations throughout Canadian Screen Week, and Special Award recipients including Humanitarian Award honouree Ryan Reynolds; Academy Icon Award recipient Catherine O’Hara; and Radius Award winner Simu Liu.

The broadcast will see one award handed out: the fan-voted Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award, which will open for submissions on Feb. 23.  Nominees for the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards will be announced on Feb. 22.

Bee’s Canadian Screen Awards stint comes as she makes inroads in Canada, after soaring to fame south of the border as Emmy-nominated host of late-night talk show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS and as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Bee and her prodco, Swimsuit Competition, have partnered with Sinking Ship Entertainment to develop the kids sketch comedy show Best Day Ever. The series concept was created by Canadian producer and actor Allana Harkin, who worked as a producer and correspondent on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

In a statement, Bee jested that she’s “excited to subtly drop my resume to all of the best and the brightest in Canadian TV and film” at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Photo courtesy of the Canadian Academy