BY ANDRE SOARES, LOS ANGELES, USA (CINEMA MINIMA)

Press Release from the Screen Actors Guild:

Submissions for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® nominations open Monday, July 14, and continue until 5 p.m. (PST), Wednesday, Oct. 29, it was announced today by SAG Awards® Committee Chair Yale Summers.

Submissions can be accepted online at www.sagawards.org or submission forms can be obtained by calling the Screen Actors Guild Awards office at (323) 549-6707.

The Screen Actors Guild Award—The Actor®—is presented for outstanding performances in motion pictures and primetime television. Actors may submit their own performances from 2008 for consideration in categories of the actor’s choosing. With the actor’s permission, producers, studios/networks, agents, managers, or publicists may also submit performances for consideration. Nominations for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

Of the top industry honors presented to performers, only the Screen Actors Guild Awards are selected entirely by actors’ peers. Recipients of the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced at ceremonies on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009, simulcast from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT and 6 p.m. MT.

The nominees for performances in 2008, including the distinctive ensemble awards and the year-old stunt ensemble honors, will be chosen by two separate film and television nominating panels, each comprised of 2,100 SAG members from across the United States, randomly selected each April. Nomination voting closes on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008. Final SAG Awards ballots will be mailed Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2008, to all eligible voting members of Screen Actors Guild, to be returned by Friday, Jan. 23, to the Guild’s election firm, where results will be sealed until they are opened onstage at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Categories for submission are as follows:

Theatrical Motion Pictures
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Motion Picture

Primetime Broadcast and Cable Television Programs
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Stunt Ensemble Honors (recipients to be announced from the SAG Awards® red carpet on Sunday, Jan. 25).
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Upcoming key deadlines and events leading to the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are:

Monday, July 14, 2008
Submissions Open

Friday, September 19, 2008
Deadline for Nominating Committee Members to Make Address Changes

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Media Nomination Announcement & Telecast Credential Applications Open
Publicists Nomination Announcement Credential Applications Open

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Submissions Close (Due at SAG by 5 pm, PT)

Friday, October 31, 2008
Media Nomination Announcement & Telecast Credential Applications Close
Publicists Nomination Announcement Credential Applications Close

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Nominations Ballots Mailed

Monday December 15, 2008
Deadline for Paying November 2008 Dues and/or Changing Address with SAG to be Eligible for Final Balloting

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Nomination Ballots Due at the Elections Firm by 12 Noon PT

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Nominations Announced at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Records Pulled for Final Balloting

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Publicists Telecast Credential Applications Open

Friday, December 26, 2008
Final Ballots Mailed to Members

Monday, January 5, 2009
Publicists Telecast Credential Applications Close

Friday, January 23, 2009
Final Ballots Due at the Elections Firm by 12 Noon PT

Sunday, January 25, 2009
15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2008 winners