The Award is dedicated to supporting the development or production of a new work by a female, female-presenting or gender non-conforming artists in media or theatre.

Established in 2012 to honour the life and work of actor, documentarian, writer, teacher, and mentor Cayle Chernin (1947–2011). Ms. Chernin’s legacy lives on through this initiative, empowering women in the performing arts to tell their stories.

The 15th Annual
Equity Showcase Cayle Awards

Eligibility

These awards are open to female, female-presenting, or gender non-conforming artists in media arts or theatre. Applicants must be members of a Canadian professional arts guild, union, or equivalent and be residents of Ontario.

Recipients

Documentary

Production:

Jialan Lin for Let’s Talk about Matriarchy

Jialan (Jenny) Lin is a Chinese-born, Toronto-based writer-director passionate about marginalized women’s stories and fostering healing. A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts (MFA) with multiple film and TV projects to her credit, she is an alumna of the 2025 Whistler Film Festival Screenwriters Lab. She won the 2025 So You Think You Can Pitch? Competition at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, and has received support from the Mulan International Film Festival. Across her work, she strives to inspire reflection and action, breaking cycles of trauma for future generations.

Log line – Let’s Talk about Matriarchy

Through an East Asian lens, a Chinese-born, Toronto-based filmmaker embarks on a personal search for healing, traveling across continents to explore matriarchal theory, living traditions in China, and women-led shared housing initiatives in Canada, reimagining dignity and care for women across cultures.

Media Arts

Production:

Vanessa Magic for Nadine Pick Up The Phone

Vanessa Magic is a Canadian Screen Award-winning director and Writers’ Guild of Canada-nominated writer who loves to tell stories that focus on human connection, processing grief and overcoming loneliness, and often through a surrealist lens. Drawing inspiration from her dreams to craft untold worlds filled with levity, strange beauty, and magic. She is an alum of Slamdance, WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program, and Women in the Director’s Chair. Her short films have been funded by The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council, and have been selected for film festivals worldwide. Her films include The Future Above Us (2023), How to Stay Awake (2024), The Absurdity of the Black Female Experience (2023), and I Am Pleased (2025). She is currently working on her debut feature, Nadine Pick Up The Phone, set for release in 2027.

Log line – Nadine Pick Up the Phone

On her birthday, which happens to also be the anniversary of her father’s death, a listless woman answers a strange ad seeking partners in lucid dreaming. In these fantastical dreamscapes, memory and longing entwine, drawing her toward the buried truth of his loss and the distance she's placed between herself and her mother.

Theatre

Development:

Iris Rhian for BABY

Iris Rhian (all pronouns) is a playwright and actor, and Dual-Citizen of the United States and Canada. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Iris received their BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where they had their work developed and performed. After graduating in 2020, Iris held a two-year playwriting fellowship at Central Square Theater in Boston, where they developed two interview-based plays with local adolescents over the 2021-2023 seasons. After relocating to Toronto in October, 2023, Iris’ work has appeared in Talk Is Free Theatre’s “I Do, I Don’t, I Dare!” Festival, has been workshopped at the PARC Playwrights’ Retreat, was showcased in the Factory Theatre’s 2025 TEPs ensemble, and was presented at Aluna Theatre’s 2025 CAMINOS Festival. Iris’ play “Baby,” was a finalist for the 2025 Tom Hendry RBC Emerging Playwright Award, and was developed through the 2025 Stratford Festival Playwrights’ Retreat.

Log line – Baby

“Baby” stars Baby, a precocious twelve-year-old on the cusp of womanhood. Newly sent to a religious settlement known as “The Mission,” and a skeptic, Baby struggles to assimilate. Matters worsen when Baby is isolated for the protection of her peers. When the settlement’s founder and leader Father T disappears on a spiritual quest, Baby is reunited with her friends Tommy and Christina. Amid the rapidly disorienting world of their newfound independence, the children grapple with belief and belonging, and what it means to grow up.

Finalists

Thank you to our Hosts

Lisa Baylin &
Shannon Fewster

Find all the pics from the 15th Annual Equity Showcase Awards here!

Gallery

Testimonials

Cayle Alumni

Delve into the captivating world of Cayle Award winners and finalists, exploring their groundbreaking projects throughout the years in our compelling Cayle Alumni section.

Cayle Alumni

Alumni Spotlight

Cayle Awards Gallery

Photo Galleries

We thank our Champion Donors, Sponsors and Partners for their generous support.

The Cayle Fund continues to grow, raising money for the Cayle Awards, salons and educational opportunities for women.

Having supported over 30 women and provided over $200,000 in cash, goods and services to empower women in media and theatre, the work continues.

Help support our cause by making a donation today and making a lasting impact on the arts community in Canada.

DONATE

PARTNERS

Canadian Artists Network

CAN - canartnet.ca
provides an invaluable paid mentor to each of our Cayle Chernin Award winners.
Sunbelt Rentals

Formerly William F. White -sunbeltrentals.com
provides each Cayle Award Media winner with resources, equipment and knowledge to position them for success.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

The Equity Showcase Cayle Woman of the Year acknowledges and honours a female arts leader or Artist: creative, civic, leadership or mentorship contribution to the arts.