The Audience Award came to be seen as a better indicator of potential commercial success than the juried awards.

Each year, the festival offers a number of juried and audience-voted awards.

Awards include a juried award for Best Canadian Short.

Event organizers announced the addition of four juried awards for ArtPrize 2010.

Event organizers noted that, depending on sponsor availability, more juried awards might be added to the program.

In addition to awards distributed as a result of a public vote, the organization distributed seven juried awards for ArtPrize 2011.

From 1992 to 2008, it was a juried award, so there were no nominations and there would be multiple or no recipients in one year.

In 2009, the Academy changed the award from a "juried" award to a "category", with five nominees and one winner.

A complete list of the recipients (along with the recipients of the festival's occasional juried awards) can be found on the Frameline website.

Also in 2003, the festival extended its program to include indigenous work from the Americas, established competitive sections granting juried and audience awards.