Hong Kong Film Award - General Rules

General Rules

The Hong Kong Film Awards are open to all Hong Kong films which are not shorter than an hour and commercially released in Hong Kong within the previous calendar year. A film qualifies as a Hong Kong film if it satisfies two of the three criteria, namely: the film director is a Hong Kong resident, at least one film company is registered in Hong Kong, and at least six persons of the production crew are Hong Kong residents. Since 2002, the HKFA also feature a Best Asian Film category, which accepts non-Hong Kong films which are commercially released in Hong Kong.

In January each year, a first round of election, open to all registered voters and a selected group of 100 professional abjudicators, is held to determine the five nominees for each award category. In the rare case where there is a tie between two nominees within the top five slots, six nominees will be allowed. Nominations are usually announced in February, after which a second round of election is held to determine the winner. Voting in the second round is open to a group of 50 professional abjudicators, Executive Committee members of the HKFA, as well as members of the thirteen professional film bodies. Each voting group holds a percentage of the ultimate score for each nominee, and each film body holds a higher share in the categories associated with it.