Organizers pose for a group photo after the press conference announcing the 2014 Golden Panda North America International Short Film Festival. Provided to China Daily

The 2014 Golden Panda North America International Short Film Festival, which allows young filmmakers to showcase their skills and talent, announced Wednesday that it will accept submissions starting Aug 1.

The festival will award six prizes on Dec 12 at the River Rock Theater in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. They will be for best picture or Golden Panda Award, best humanities film, best animated short, best director, best screenplay and most popular short as voted online.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits."

At a news conference on Wednesday in Vancouver announcing the opening of this year's festival, director Marater Zhang reviewed last year's event and encouraged submissions for this year.

Teresa Wat and Regina Tsui, representing the Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism, delivered congratulatory remarks at the news conference, and Chinese Consul General Liu Fei congratulated the event with a phone call.

Also attending were MLA Richard Lee from the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Judge Representative Michael French, Marc Roumi, winner of the 2013 Best Picture Golden Panda Award.

The festival is hosted jointly by cctv.com, CNTVNA.com and Orient Star Media. Co-organizers include the China Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau, www.ipanda.com, Sing Tao Media, China Lion Film, Capilano University Bosa Center, CHMB AM1320, G&E Studio Vancouver Inc., China Daily USA and New Silk Road Model agency.