The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television on Tuesday announced its special award winners for the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

Screenwriter Semi Chellas, filmmakers David Cronenberg and Alanis Obomsawin, transmedia creator Alan Sawyer and newsmagazine W5 will all be recognized for contributions to the both the Canadian industry and the world stage.

Chellas receives the Margaret Collier Award, which is sponsored by Noreen Halpern’s Halfire-CORE Entertainment, and recognizes a writer’s exceptional contribution to Canadian TV. Emmy-nominated Chellas has penned scripts for Rookie Blue, The Eleventh Hour and Mad Men, for which she is currently co-exec producer.

Cronenberg receives the Lifetime Achievement Award for film and TV, for “his unique, imaginative and progressive artistic vision with the Cannes Film Festival’s Carrosse d’Or; Légion d’honneur in France and is an Officer of the Order of Canada,” the ACCT said in a statement. According to a release from the ACCT, Cronenberg’s films tally more than $230.7 million at the worldwide box office.

Abenaki-Canadian doc filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin receives the Humanitarian Award for film and TV, for her contributions to community and public service. Obomsawin in her work has chronicled First Nations culture and history for more than 40 years, and is the recipient of two Governor General’s Awards – the Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement and the award in Visual and Media arts.

Transmedia consultant and interactive content creator Alan Sawyer receives the Digital Media Trailblazing Award, sponsored by the OMDC, posthumously. Sawyer is honoured “for his efforts in advancing the development of and interaction between digital platforms and more traditional media,” the ACCT said. Sawyer through his career was a liaison between producers, broadcasters and digital media companies, in addition to acting as a mentor to emerging digital media creators.

And newsmagazine and documentary program W5 is named the recipient of the Gordon Sinclair Award for Broadcast Journalism. The program was launched by CTV News in 1966 and has been hosted by several prominent journalists, including Michael Maclear, Eric Malling and current reporters Lloyd Robertson, Sandie Rinaldo, Kevin Newman, Lisa LaFlamme, Victor Malarek and Tom Kennedy.

The Canadian Screen Awards will take place on March 9 at 8 p.m as part of Canadian Screen Week, which runs March 3 to 9, 2013.