The award will be decided by the public who will vote for their
favourite actor or actress from the programme of six LGBT feature
films.
Currently, Iris is the biggest independent short-film award
ceremony in the world.
The new award is sponsored by The London Women's Clinic who
joins the Iris family as a new sponsor.
"The London Women's Clinic in Wales, London and the North East
is now the UK's leading fertility clinic in the treatment of
lesbian couples. Therefore, it is a privilege for us to be a
sponsor of this new and exciting award" said Dr Kamal Ahuja,
Scientific and Managing Director of the clinic.
The event is primarily funded by the UK Film Council.
"Iris is celebrating her fifth birthday this year and as part of
the celebrations we are very excited to be presenting a new award
for acting," said Berwyn Rowlands from the Iris Prize.
"This will be our first public award and we anticipate much
debate and discussion on who should take the inaugural award for
acting," he added.
