The Canadian Images jury was made up of popular Vancouver actor Jay Brazeau, Montreal filmmaker Anne Émond and Columbian-American media personality Claudia Mendoza-Carruth. They selected Blackbird for "its years of research by the director on the juvenile correctional system; how it transforms the life of a creative kid. The supporting characters are extremely well crafted, free of clichés. We look forward to the development of the careers of both newcomer Connor Jessup and first-time feature director Jason Buxton." Claudia Mendoza-Carruth presented the award.

The jury also gave Honourable Mention to Becoming Redwood, directed by Jesse James Miller of B.C., for its "beautiful journey that transports you to the 1970s. Ryan Grantham carries the film with extraordinary gravitas on his 14-year old shoulders, winning the audience over."

The Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film Award came with a $2,000 cash award from an anonymous donor and went to Juan Riedlinger of B.C. for Float. The jury selected this film as "a dark and large subject treated with simplicity and truth. The director handled these seasoned actors with finesse."

The Honourable Mention for a Canadian Short Film went to Peach Juice, directed by Brian Lye, Callum Paterson and Nathan Gilliss of B.C. The jury said this film was, "Funny, with a great sense of humour. A different kind of take on animation showed much promise. We look forward to seeing more. It was a bittersweet story."

Folliowing is a list of winners decided by audience voting:

Rogers People's Choice Award: The Hunt, directed by Thomas Vinterberg. All of the festival's 236 feature films - dramas and nonfiction - were eligible, and festival-goers chose the most popular film by rating every film they saw on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Tara Thind, reporter for OMNI TV, presented the award on behalf of Rogers.

The VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award went to Becoming Redwood, directed by Jesse James Miller, which had also been given an Honourable Mention in the Best Canadian Feature category. The award was presented by Canadian Images Programmer, Terry McEvoy.

The VIFF Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award was given to Blood Relative, directed by Nimisha Mukerji. It was presented by Canadian Images Programmer, Terry McEvoy.

The Most Popular International Documentary Film Award was given to Nuala, directed by Patrick Farrelly and Kate O'Callaghan. This award was presented by Festival Director, Alan Franey.

The Most Popular Environmental Film Award was titled Revolution and was directed by Rob Stewart. The award was announced by Festival Director, Alan Franey.

The Most Popular International First Feature Award went to I, Anna, directed by Barnaby Southcombe. This award was also presented by Festival Director, Alan Franey.

Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award went to Manon Briand, writer-director of Liverpool.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AWARDS

Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema: The $5,000 Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema, which is generously supported by donor Brad Birarda, went to director Li Luo of China for Emperor Visits The Hell (Tang Huang You Difu). Presented to the director of a creative and innovative film from East Asia that has not yet won significant international recognition, the award was previously announced on October 4th. The distinguished jury was comprised of Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues, whose films include To Die Like a Man (2009) and screening this year at VIFF, The Last Time I Saw Macao; filmmaker Makato Shinozaki, a former Dragons and Tigers finalist whose recent films include Die! Directors, Die! and Since Then; and Chuck Stephens, writer, teacher, columnist and contributing editor to Film Comment. They considered eight films in competition.