Empire Awards

Overview

The Empire Awards were an annual British film awards ceremony presented by Empire magazine, the UK's leading film publication. Winners were determined entirely by votes from Empire's readership, making the awards a barometer of popular film taste rather than industry or critical consensus. The awards ran from 1996 through 2018, covering 23 ceremonies before being discontinued without official explanation.

The 23rd and final Empire Awards took place on March 18, 2018, at The Roundhouse in London, honoring films released in 2017. Star Wars: The Last Jedi won Best Film, Gary Oldman won Best Actor for Darkest Hour, and Margot Robbie won Best Actress for I, Tonya. Rakuten TV served as the title sponsor for the final ceremony. No further editions have been announced as of 2026.

Unlike industry-voted ceremonies such as the BAFTAs or craft guild awards, the Empire Awards reflected the preferences of engaged film fans who read Empire magazine. This reader-voted model gave the awards a distinct character, consistently favoring blockbusters, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films that traditional awards bodies often overlooked.

History

Empire magazine launched the awards in 1996 to give readers a voice in recognizing the year's best films. The first ceremony honored Braveheart as Best Film. Over 23 editions, the awards grew from a small magazine event into a major UK ceremony drawing over 1,000 guests.

Key milestones include the 2009 ceremony, where The Dark Knight won Best Film, validating comic book adaptations at a time when industry awards ignored the genre. In 2013, Skyfall became the first James Bond film to win a best picture prize at a major UK awards body. The 2016 ceremony added 11 new categories spanning film, television, and gaming.

Sponsorship changes marked the awards' final years. Jameson Irish Whiskey served as title sponsor from 2009 to 2016, followed by Three in 2017 and Rakuten TV in 2018. The ceremony was discontinued after the 23rd edition. No official reason was provided, though the UK awards landscape had become crowded with BAFTAs, BIFA, and London Film Festival awards competing for attention.

Eligibility and Submission Rules

The Empire Awards had no formal submission process. Empire magazine's editorial team compiled the shortlist of nominees based on films released during the prior calendar year in the UK. No entry fees, submission forms, or studio applications were required.

Films needed a UK theatrical release during the eligibility period to qualify for nomination. The magazine's editorial staff selected nominees across each category, then opened voting to Empire readers. There were no premiere requirements, runtime minimums, or production country restrictions.

The lack of formal submission mechanics meant the awards relied entirely on editorial judgment for nominee selection. This gave Empire's editorial team significant influence over which films reached the reader ballot.

Voting Process

Empire magazine readers voted for winners through the publication's website and, in earlier years, via postal ballot. No industry membership, guild affiliation, or professional credential was required to vote. Any reader with an Empire account could participate.

The exact number of voters was never publicly disclosed. However, Empire's print circulation peaked at approximately 170,000 copies per month during the awards' run, with a larger online readership. The voting body skewed toward engaged genre fans rather than industry professionals.

There were no voting branches or peer groups. All readers voted across all categories, which meant the same audience that favored Star Wars for Best Film also selected winners in Best Horror and Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy. This unified voter base produced results that consistently diverged from industry-voted ceremonies.

Key Categories

The Empire Awards categories evolved significantly over the ceremony's 23-year run. The core categories included:

• Best Film
• Best Director
• Best Actor and Best Actress
• Best British Film
• Best Newcomer (split into Best Male Newcomer and Best Female Newcomer in 2012)
• Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
• Best Horror (introduced 2006)
• Best Comedy (introduced 2006)
• Best Thriller (introduced 2006)
• Best Animated Film (added in 2016 overhaul)
• Best TV Series (added in 2016)
• Best Video Game (added in 2016)
• Best Screenplay (added in 2016)

The 2016 ceremony marked the most substantial category expansion, with 11 new categories added spanning film, television, and gaming, reflecting the broadening scope of the magazine's coverage.

Alongside competitive categories, Empire presented honorary awards at its discretion, including the Empire Hero Award (2010-2018), Empire Inspiration Award, Empire Legend Award (2012-2018), and Lifetime Achievement Award (1996-2003, 2006).

Recent Winners / Nominees

The final three Empire Awards ceremonies produced the following Best Film winners:

23rd Empire Awards (March 2018)

• Best Film: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Disney)
• Best Director: Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Best Actor: Hugh Jackman, Logan (20th Century Fox)
• Best Actress: Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Disney)
• Best British Film: God's Own Country (Picturehouse Entertainment)
• Empire Legend: Steven Spielberg

22nd Empire Awards (March 2017)

• Best Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Disney)
• Best Director: J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Warner Bros.)
• Best Actress: Felicity Jones, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney)

21st Empire Awards (March 2016)

• Best Film: The Martian (20th Century Fox)
• Best Director: Ridley Scott, The Martian
• Best Actor: Matt Damon, The Martian
• Best Actress: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl (Focus Features)

The genre categories produced winners that would never appear on a BAFTA or Oscar shortlist. Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy winners included The Lord of the Rings trilogy films, Gravity, and Interstellar. Best Horror winners included The Conjuring and Get Out.

Eligibility Quirks That Trip People Up

Mistake: Assuming the Empire Awards had formal submission deadlines like the BAFTAs or Oscars.

Correct rule: There were no submissions. Empire's editorial team selected nominees internally based on UK theatrical releases. Studios could not campaign or submit films for consideration.

Mistake: Believing the awards followed industry-voted standards for category eligibility.

Correct rule: Genre categories (Best Horror, Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Best Comedy, Best Thriller) were determined by editorial classification, not by a film's marketing label. A film could appear in multiple genre categories or none at all.

Mistake: Expecting the awards to recognize international art house or non-English-language cinema.

Correct rule: The reader voter base consistently favored English-language blockbusters and genre films. Non-English-language films rarely appeared on the shortlist, regardless of critical acclaim.

Prestige Tier

The Empire Awards sat below the BAFTAs and below the London Film Festival awards in the UK film awards hierarchy. They functioned more as a fan engagement platform than an industry credential. In terms of genre recognition, they held a position comparable to the US-based Saturn Awards, which also celebrated sci-fi, fantasy, and horror cinema outside the mainstream awards circuit.

For filmmakers, an Empire Award carried less industry weight than a BAFTA nomination but offered something BAFTAs could not: demonstrable fan enthusiasm. Distributors valued this as a marketing signal for home video and streaming releases, though the award's discontinuation in 2018 ended this value proposition. No UK-based reader-voted film awards ceremony has replaced the Empire Awards as of 2026.

Business Impact for Filmmakers

For filmmakers working in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and blockbuster filmmaking, an Empire Award provided recognition from an engaged fan audience that industry-voted awards did not offer.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight winning Best Film and Best Director in 2009 demonstrated the awards' willingness to honor comic book adaptations at a time when the BAFTAs and Oscars largely ignored the genre. Similarly, Skyfall winning Best Film in 2013 gave a James Bond film a best picture prize that no other major UK awards body had awarded.

For distributors, the Empire Awards served as a marketing tool. A film branded with the Empire Awards logo on its home video or streaming release signaled popular approval to potential viewers. The reader-voted model meant that winners had demonstrable fan engagement, which carried marketing value distinct from critical or industry recognition.

The awards' discontinuation in 2018 left a gap in the UK film awards landscape for genre recognition. The Saturn Awards (US-based) and the SFX Awards partially fill this space, but no UK-based reader-voted film awards ceremony has replaced the Empire Awards as of 2026.

What Filmmakers Should Know

The Empire Awards no longer exist, so filmmakers cannot submit or campaign for them. However, the gap they left in UK genre film recognition remains relevant. Filmmakers working in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or action cinema should look to the Saturn Awards and SFX Awards for equivalent fan-voted recognition. For UK-specific genre visibility, the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) now represent the strongest domestic platform, though BIFA's voter base skews industry rather than fan. The key trade-off: fan-voted awards generate stronger social media engagement and home video marketing value, while industry-voted awards carry more weight with funding bodies and sales agents. Filmmakers should pursue both paths, using genre festival premieres to build fan momentum and industry festivals to attract distributor attention.

Watch

See Also

For understanding how fan engagement and reader-voted recognition fit into a film's marketing strategy, see Distribution Deals Explained. To model the box office impact of awards recognition, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator. For evaluating the cost of an awards-season campaign against projected returns, use the Ad Spend Break-Even Calculator.