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Winners of the 2013 AWFJ EDA Awards!

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The Alliance of Women Film Journalists is proud to announce the winners of its 8th Annual EDA Awards.

Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” was a clear winner with six total trophies: starting with Best Film, it swept the AWFJ EDA “Best of” categories with four awards; took another in the female-centric EDA Focus Awards; and earned its sixth win in the EDA Special Mention section.

Among the “BEST OF” EDA Awards—which parallel those conferred by other voting organizations—Cate Blanchett was honored as Best Actress for “Blue Jasmine,” and Matthew McConaughey earned Best Actor for “Dallas Buyer’s Club.” Supporting role awards went to Lupita Nyong’o for “12 Years a Slave,” and Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club. The Best Ensemble Cast prize went to “American Hustle”; the EDA for Best Documentary went to Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell”; and Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Hunt” was embraced for Best Non-English-Language Film.

The AWFJ also presents unique awards categories that reflect the organization’s mission to celebrate women in filmmaking, as well as the perspective of women in film journalism.

The EDA Focus Awards pay tribute to achievements in filmmaking by women. Among the 2013 winners are Nicole Holofcener, who received the Best Female Director and Best Woman Screenwriter Awards for “Enough Said.” Sandra Bullock grabbed the Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star for her role in “Gravity,” and Anna, the heroine of “Frozen” voiced by Kristen Bell, drew Best Animated Female. Lupita Nyong’o received a second EDA for her work in “12 Years a Slave” with the award for Best Breakthrough Performance.

This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry, celebrates the achievement of Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haafia Al-Mansour for making “Wadjda” and challenging the limitations placed on women in her culture.

For extra fun, the AWFJ presents the EDA Special Mentions. A sampling of these awards include Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction, awarded to Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix for their digital lovemaking in “Her,” as well as the Most Memorable Moment Award, which went to “12 Years A Slave” for the Solomon hanging sequence, and the Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest, which went to Michael Douglas and Bre Blair for “Last Vegas.” This the second EDA for Douglas in this category, following Special Mention for the 45-year age gap with his “Solitary Man” co-star Imogen Poots in 2010.

Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor” attracted particular attention from AWFJ members, receiving EDAs for Movie You Most Wanted to Love, But Just Couldn’t and the AWFJ Hall of Shame Award. The film also brought Cameron Diaz the award for “Actress Most in Need Of a New Agent.

For the complete list of 2013 EDA Awards, click here.

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for Women on Film, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and (currently) Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and, currently, for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).