British Independent Film Awards  The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, with the ceremony itself taking place in early December. Since 2015, BIFA has also hosted UK-wide talent development and film screening programmes with the support of Creative Skillset and the British Film Institute. The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were created in 1998 by Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne of the Raindance Film Festival, with the aim of celebrating merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking, honouring new talent and promoting British films and filmmaking to a wider public audience. BIFA founding members include Phillip Alberstat, Chris Auty, André Burgess, Sally Caplan, Pippa Cross, Christopher Fowler, Lora Fox Gamble, Steven Gaydos, Norma Heyman, Emma E. Hickox, Fred Hogge, Robert Jones, Steve Kenis, Alberto Lopez, Ollie Madden, Hamish McAlpine, Neil McCartney, Saul Metzstein, Martin Myers, Sarah Radclyffe, Tracey Scoffield, Mark Shivas, Jim Wilson, and Michiyo Yoshizaki. The first BIFA ceremony took place on 29 October 1998. Winners included Ken Loach (for My Name is Joe), Shane Meadows (for Twentyfour Seven) and Ray Winstone (for Nil by Mouth). The Special Jury Prize was awarded to Nik Powell, and the Best British Independent Film award went to My Name is Joe. The BIFA ceremony takes place in early December every year and is one of the first dates in the annual awards season. Most of the awards categories are for British independent feature films only, though there are awards for Best International Independent Film and Best British Short Film. There are also several honorary awards, such as the Special Jury Prize, the Richard Harris Award and the Variety Award. Awarded since 2013, the trophy has been a sculpture by Fredrikson Stallard for Swarovski. BIFA currently has 16 competitive award categories and three honorary ones:  BIFA entries close in late August / early September. Main categories (British feature films):  Best International Independent Film:  BIFA has a large pool of voters that consists of past BIFA winners and nominees, top British film industry professionals and experienced filmmakers from all areas of production. Although the pool is continually growing, fewer than 200 voters vote for the nominations in any one year.