The LEO AWARDS recognize Outstanding Achievement in two categories - Individual and Group, Company or Association. We honour those that have made a difference through their commitment to our industry. Each year nominations are accepted and award recipients are determined by the Members of the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia Board of Directors.
Dr. Carol Whiteman
Best known as co-creator and producer of Canada's internationally respected Women In the Director's Chair (WIDC) program, Carol Whiteman is a two-time Governor General's award nominee and multiple award-winner for promoting gender equity and inclusion in Canada's screen industry. Since 1996, Whiteman has worked tirelessly to advance the careers, fiction feature films, network television and web series of a generation of women and non-binary screen writers and directors. Through WIDC, she has produced over 150 short films and is executive producer on thirteen award-winning feature films including Red Snow, Dir. Marie Clements, Rustic Oracle, Dir. Sonia Bonspille Boileau, With Love and a Major Organ, Dir. Kim Albright, the upcoming The Words We Can’t Speak, Dir. Lindsay McIntyre and Monica's News, Dir. Pamela Gallant.
She has served on a variety of industry advisory boards and committees including the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, UBCP/ACTRA, Langara College Film Arts, and Screen BC’s Education and Training Committee where she has recently co-chaired the Motion Picture Orientation (MPIO) course update task force. She also spear-headed WIDC’s Safer Creative Spaces Project, which includes a mental health starter toolkit for leaders, cast and crew and she holds a Doctorate in Transformational Change in Education from Simon Fraser University.