Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards Delayed Due to COVID-19

Due to the rising number of COVID cases linked to the Omicron variant, the Hollywood Critics Association has decided to postpone their 5th Annual HCA Film Awards ceremony until Monday, February 28, 2022.

"The health and safety of our members, nominees, special award recipients, and guests will always be our top priority, which is why we have decided to postpone our ceremony to a later date," notes HCA co-founders Ashley & Scott Menzel.

The 5th Annual HCA Film Awards was originally scheduled to take place at Avalon Hollywood on Saturday, January 8, 2022. Nicolas Cage, Guillermo del Toro, Jude Hill, Natalie Morales, Alice Brooks, Simu Liu, Greig Fraser, Saniyya Sidney, and the Cast of CODA were previously announced among the special award honorees scheduled to appear along with the stars and filmmakers from the nominated films. "We would like to thank all of the studios and personal publicists for their ongoing support as we continue to navigate through this time of uncertainty," adds HCA President Nestor Bentancor.

"These past two weeks feel like déjà vu. We were hoping for the best, but the number of cases only continues to increase every day," notes Scott Menzel. "Given the number of people traveling for the holiday season, we felt that the postponement of the HCA Film Awards was inevitable. Out of an abundance of caution, we are moving the awards to the end of February with the hope of having an in-person ceremony, but only if the current situation improves."

The Hollywood Critics Association was founded by Ashley and Scott Menzel on the idea of inclusivity and equal representation in film and television criticism. The 4th Annual HCA Film Awards virtual ceremony received over 2 billion social media impressions. The 1st Annual HCA TV Awards streamed on YouTube on August 29, 2021 and was viewed by over 30k people. The TV Awards ceremony also received over 3 billion social media impressions with various clips being viewed by over half a million individuals around the world.

The 5th Annual HCA Film Awards is scheduled to be produced by DIGA Studios and will be live streamed on the organization's official YouTube channel. Additional updates about the upcoming event will be announced in the weeks leading up to the new date.