Anna Lambe as Siaja in Iqaluit-filmed sitcom North of North.Netflix/Supplied
The post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres and the Iqaluit-filmed sitcom North of North lead the nominations for the 14th annual Canadian Screen Awards, organizers announced Wednesday.
With 20 nominations, including Best Comedy Series and Best Lead Performer (Comedy) for star Anna Lambe, North of North, a co-production between the CBC, APTN and Netflix, scored the highest number of CSA nods in both the television-focused categories and the awards overall.
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The series’ haul is closely followed, though, by Crave’s breakout hit Heated Rivalry, which earned 18 nominations, including Best Drama Series and two nominations for Best Lead Performer (Drama Series) for stars Hudson Williams and Francois Arnaud. Heated Rivalry’s American star Connor Storrie, however, was not nominated, due to a change in eligibility rules that the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television instituted late last year, in which “all categories honouring certified Canadian productions will be restricted to Canadian citizens or permanent residents only.”
The CBC sitcom Small Achievable Goals followed Heated Rivalry with 12 nominations, including Best Ensemble Performance (Comedy), but oddly not Best Comedy Series. The five programs nominated in that category consist of North of North, Crave’s Late Bloomer, CBC’s Son of a Critch, Crave’s The Trades, and CTV’s Children Ruin Everything.
This image released by HBO Max shows Connor Storrie, left, and Hudson Williams in a scene from the series Heated Rivalry.The Associated Press
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, it appeared as if Heated Rivalry, which has picked up global acclaim and is available in the United States via HBO Max, would not be eligible for this year’s CSAs. According to the Canadian Academy’s 2026 regulations, an eligible television program “must have its first Canadian commercial release between September 1, 2024, and November 15, 2025.” The series premiere of Heated Rivalry, created by Jacob Tierney, first streamed on Crave on Nov. 28, 2025.
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Yet according to the Canadian Academy, the submission process includes an ability to appeal. While the details of that process are confidential, the organization’s internal review system ultimately deemed that Heated Rivalry would be eligible for this year’s awards.
On the feature film side, director R.T. Thorne’s thriller 40 Acres, which takes place in a near-future Canadian dystopia, earned 10 nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction for Thorne, and the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award.
Danielle Deadwyler as Hailey Freeman in 40 Acres.Rafy/Mongrel Media
Three films followed with eight nominations a piece: Eric K. Boulianne’s French-language sex comedy Follies, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s dark romantic thriller Honey Bunch, and Matt Johnson’s time-travel buddy comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Meanwhile, Chandler Levack’s Montreal-set comedy Mile End Kicks and Sophy Romvari’s coming-of-age drama Blue Heron picked up seven nominations each.
The nominees for Best Motion Picture are 40 Acres, Blue Heron, the French-language thriller The Cost of Heaven, Follies, the French-language wedding-day comedy Lovely Day, the Turkey-set thriller The Things You Kill, the Igloolik-set fantasy drama Wrong Husband, and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. That last title recently delivered the largest opening at the domestic box office for a live-action English-language Canadian film since the 2023 comedy BlackBerry, which was also directed by Johnson (and who this year has been denied a nomination for Achievement in Direction).
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Eligibility rules for feature films stipulate that a production must have had its “first commercial release” in a Canadian theatre or eligible online platform between Jan. 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026.
Finally, on the digital media side, the six-part comedy series Settle Down, from OUTtv, led the category with nine nominations, including Best Web Program and Best Lead Performance for Alexander Nunez.
Matt Johnson in a still from Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.Elevation Pictures/Supplied
While the number of nominations scored by North of North and 40 Acres are impressive, they fall short of the all-time CSA record-holders Schitt’s Creek (which received 26 TV-category nods in 2020) and BlackBerry (which earned 17 nods in 2024).
A total of 153 CSAs (including Special and Fan Choice Awards) will be handed out during a series of Toronto ceremonies running May 27-31, with the number of awards down slightly from 2025, when the Canadian Academy handed out 158 (itself a reduction from 2024’s slate of 171 awards).
This year’s CSAs gala will be hosted May 31 by actor Andrew Phung (Kim’s Convenience, Run the Burbs) and, for the first time ever, be simulcast on CBC, CTV and Global, as well as live-streamed on those broadcasters’ respective streaming services, CBC Gem, Crave and STACKTV.