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Arts Nova Scotia and the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council congratulate Leah Johnston, who has been selected to receive a 2025 Emerging Artist Recognition Award.
Leah Johnston
Leah Johnston is a filmmaker from Truro, Nova Scotia who has been making short films for over thirteen years. Her short film, Ingrid and the Black Hole premiered at Fantasia Film Festival and was showcased at dozens of film festivals, winning eight awards, including Best Canadian Short at Edmonton International Film Festival. Her most recent film Mother's Skin was the only live-action film from North America selected to premiere in the 2023 Golden Goblet Competition at Shanghai International Film Festival. It took home two awards at Atlantic Film Festival, including Best Short and the Joan Orenstein Award for Outstanding Performance. She is currently in development on her first feature film Shopaholic which was developed through the 2023 Directors Lab at Canadian Film Centre and won the 2025 Sondra Kelly Award from the Writers Guild of Canada. Leah is the recipient of the Corus Fearless Female Filmmaker Award, the $35,000 Bravofact/WIFT Prize and the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. She graduated with a B.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and is an alumna of Canadian Film Centre's Feature Film Directing Lab, the National Screen Institute, the Reykjavik Talent Lab and the Academy of Canadian Cinema Inaugural Women's Directing program.
About the Award
The Emerging Artist Recognition Award recognizes artists of any age who are in the early stages of their professional career, have completed specialized training, and have presented their work publicly. Age is not a determining factor.
The awards help showcase the recipients’ work to residents of the province and to people beyond our borders. This visibility will encourage artistic and economic well-being for the recipients and contribute to the health of Nova Scotia’s artistic sector in support of a well-rounded community.
The Artist Recognition Awards are presented annually at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala Funded from the Nova Scotia Arts Endowment Fund, the award carries a cash value of $5,000.
It is an award of recognition and may be used by the recipient for any purpose.
The prize will be presented at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards on November 2, 2025.
