MUMBAI: The National Film Awards committee has now decided to accept digital films for consideration of awards.
The decision comes after a petition was filed by filmmakers from Manipur where cinema halls have been shut down due to militancy and filmmaking has gone totally digital.

Films can be submitted in digital format even if they have not been released with a celluloid print. An expert committee led by filmmaker Shyam Benegal has recommended this and a few other changes that will be implemented from National Film awards 2009 onwards. Last year‘s awards are likely to be announced on 15 September.
 
The cash prize for the best film has been increased from Rs 100000 to Rs 150000 to the director and producer each. For the best debut non-feature film award, the cash prize has gone up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. In the special jury award, the cash component has been increased from Rs 125000 to Rs 200000 as far as feature films are concerned and Rs 50,000 to Rs 100000 for non-feature films.
This year hence, some new award categories have been instituted. Best location sound recordist and sound designer are the two new awards in the Sound category. An award for background score has also been introduced. There will be separate awards for adapted screenplay, original screenplay and dialogues. The award for best film on Family Welfare has been abolished.