# British Independent Film Award – The Douglas Hickox Award

The Douglas Hickox Award, also named The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best British debut director. The name of the awards is in honour of British film and television director Douglas Hickox for his commitment and support for new talent. The award was first presented in the 1998 ceremony.
In regards to the category, BIFA states that is "for a British director for their debut fiction feature film. Previous television or documentary credits do not disqualify an individual from consideration. Documentaries are ineligible in this category unless an exception is granted by BIFA’s Nomination Committee".

## Winners and nominees
### 1990s

| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
| 1998 (1st) | Shane Meadows | Twenty Four Seven |
| 1998 (1st) | Andrew Piddington | The Fall |
| 1998 (1st) | Guy Ritchie | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels |
| 1998 (1st) | Peter Mullan | Orphans |
| 1998 (1st) | Geneviève Jolliffe | Urban Ghost Story |
| 1999 (2nd) | Lynne Ramsay | Ratcatcher |
| 1999 (2nd) | Jasmin Dizdar | Beautiful People |
| 1999 (2nd) | Damien O'Donnell | East Is East |
| 1999 (2nd) | Justin Kerrigan | Human Traffic |
| 1999 (2nd) | Clare Kilner | Janice Beard 45WPM |

### 2000s

| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
| 2000 (3rd) | Kevin Macdonald | One Day in September |
| 2000 (3rd) | Jim Doyle | Going Off Big Time |
| 2000 (3rd) | Jamie Thraves | The Low Down |
| 2000 (3rd) | Ben Hopkins | Simon Magus |
| 2000 (3rd) | Julian Nott | Weak at Denise |
| 2001 (4th) | Asif Kapadia | The Warrior |
| 2001 (4th) | Joel Hopkins | Jump Tomorrow |
| 2001 (4th) | Saul Metzstein | Late Night Shopping |
| 2001 (4th) | Richard Parry | South West 9 |
| 2002 (5th) | Christian Taylor, Lindy Heymann | Showboy |
| 2002 (5th) | Duncan Roy | AKA |
| 2002 (5th) | Kirsten Sheridan | Disco Pigs |
| 2002 (5th) | Paul Sarossy | Mr In-Between |
| 2003 (6th) | Richard Jobson | 16 Years of Alcohol |
| 2003 (6th) | Jeremy Wooding | Bollywood Queen |
| 2003 (6th) | Stephen Fry | Bright Young Things |
| 2003 (6th) | Penny Woolcock | The Principles of Lust |
| 2003 (6th) | Sarah Gavron | This Little Life |
| 2004 (7th) | John Crowley | Intermission |
| 2004 (7th) | Saul Dibb | Bullet Boy |
| 2004 (7th) | Peter Webber | Girl with a Pearl Earring |
| 2004 (7th) | Emily Young | Kiss of Life |
| 2004 (7th) | Matthew Vaughn | Layer Cake |
| 2005 (8th) | Annie Griffin | Festival |
| 2005 (8th) | Julian Jarrold | Kinky Boots |
| 2005 (8th) | Laurence Dunmore | The Libertine |
| 2005 (8th) | Gaby Dellal | On a Clear Day |
| 2005 (8th) | Richard E. Grant | Wah-Wah |
| 2006 (9th) | Menhaj Huda | Kidulthood |
| 2006 (9th) | Caradog W. James | Little White Lies |
| 2006 (9th) | Paul Andrew Williams | London to Brighton |
| 2006 (9th) | Andrea Arnold | Red Road |
| 2006 (9th) | Tom Vaughan | Starter for 10 |
| 2007 (10th) | Anton Corbijn | Control |
| 2007 (10th) | Marc Francis, Nick Francis | Black Gold |
| 2007 (10th) | Oliver Hodge | Garbage Warrior |
| 2007 (10th) | David Schwimmer | Run Fatboy Run |
| 2007 (10th) | Steve Hudson | True North |
| 2008 (11th) | Steve McQueen | Hunger |
| 2008 (11th) | James Watkins | Eden Lake |
| 2008 (11th) | Rupert Wyatt | The Escapist |
| 2008 (11th) | Martin McDonagh | In Bruges |
| 2008 (11th) | Eran Creevy | Shifty |
| 2009 (12th) | Duncan Jones | Moon |
| 2009 (12th) | Armando Iannucci | In the Loop |
| 2009 (12th) | Sam Taylor-Wood | Nowhere Boy |
| 2009 (12th) | Samantha Morton | The Unloved |
| 2009 (12th) | Peter Strickland | Katalin Varga |

### 2010s

| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
| 2010 (13th) | Clio Barnard | The Arbor |
| 2010 (13th) | Debs Paterson | Africa United |
| 2010 (13th) | Rowan Joffé | Brighton Rock |
| 2010 (13th) | Chris Morris | Four Lions |
| 2010 (13th) | Gareth Edwards | Monsters |
| 2011 (14th) | Paddy Considine | Tyrannosaur |
| 2011 (14th) | Joe Cornish | Attack the Block |
| 2011 (14th) | Ralph Fiennes | Coriolanus |
| 2011 (14th) | John Michael McDonagh | The Guard |
| 2011 (14th) | Richard Ayoade | Submarine |
| 2012 (15th) | Bart Layton | The Imposter |
| 2012 (15th) | Rufus Norris | Broken |
| 2012 (15th) | Ben Drew | Ill Manors |
| 2012 (15th) | Sally El Hosaini | My Brother the Devil |
| 2012 (15th) | Rowan Athale | Wasteland |
| 2013 (16th) | Paul Wright | For Those in Peril |
| 2013 (16th) | Tina Gharavi | I Am Nasrine |
| 2013 (16th) | Jeremy Lovering | In Fear |
| 2013 (16th) | Omid Nooshin | Last Passenger |
| 2013 (16th) | Charlie Cattrall | Titus |
| 2014 (17th) | Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard | 20,000 Days on Earth |
| 2014 (17th) | Yann Demange | '71 |
| 2014 (17th) | Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe | Catch Me Daddy |
| 2014 (17th) | Hong Khaou | Lilting |
| 2014 (17th) | Morgan Matthews | X+Y |
| 2015 (18th) | Stephen Fingleton | The Survivalist |
| 2015 (18th) | Corin Hardy | The Hallow |
| 2015 (18th) | Paul Katis | Kajaki: The True Story |
| 2015 (18th) | Ben Blaine, Chris Blanie | Nina Forever |
| 2015 (18th) | John Maclean | Slow West |
| 2016 (19th) | Babak Anvari | Under the Shadow |
| 2016 (19th) | Rachel Tunnard | Adult Life Skills |
| 2016 (19th) | Pete Middleton, James Spinney | Notes on Blindness |
| 2016 (19th) | Alice Lowe | Prevenge |
| 2016 (19th) | Adam Smith | Trespass Against Us |
| 2017 (20th) | Rungano Nyoni | I Am Not a Witch |
| 2017 (20th) | Francis Lee | God's Own Country |
| 2017 (20th) | Thomas Napper | Jawbone |
| 2017 (20th) | William Oldroyd | Lady Macbeth |
| 2017 (20th) | Deborah Haywood | Pin Cushion |
| 2018 (21st) | Richard Billingham | Ray & Liz |
| 2018 (21st) | Leanne Welham | Pili |
| 2018 (21st) | Michael Pearce | Beast |
| 2018 (21st) | Daniel Kokotajlo | Apostasy |
| 2018 (21st) | Matt Palmer | Calibre |
| 2019 (22nd) | Harry Wootliff | Only You |
| 2019 (22nd) | Chiwetel Ejiofor | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind |
| 2019 (22nd) | Ninian Doff | Boyz in the Wood |
| 2019 (22nd) | Fyzal Boulifa | Lynn + Lucy |
| 2019 (22nd) | Richard Phelan, Will Becher | A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon |

### 2020s

| Year | Recipient(s) | Film |
| 2020 (23rd) | Rose Glass | Saint Maud |
| 2020 (23rd) | Nick Rowland | Calm with Horses |
| 2020 (23rd) | Henry Blake | County Lines |
| 2020 (23rd) | Remi Weekes | His House |
| 2020 (23rd) | Eva Riley | Perfect 10 |
| 2021 (24th) | Aleem Khan | After Love |
| 2021 (24th) | Prano Bailey-Bond | Censor |
| 2021 (24th) | Celeste Bell | Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché |
| 2021 (24th) | Cathy Brady | Wildfire |
| 2021 (24th) | Marley Morrison | Sweetheart |
| 2022 (25th) | Charlotte Wells | Aftersun |
| 2022 (25th) | Andrew Cumming | The Origin |
| 2022 (25th) | Thomas Hardiman | Medusa Deluxe |
| 2022 (25th) | Frances O'Connor | Emily |
| 2022 (25th) | Georgia Oakley | Blue Jean |
| 2023 (25th) | Savanah Leaf | Earth Mama |
| 2023 (25th) | Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping | Femme |
| 2023 (25th) | Raine Allen-Miller | Rye Lane |
| 2023 (25th) | Charlotte Regan | Scrapper |
| 2023 (25th) | Molly Manning Walker | How to Have Sex |
| 2024 (27th) | Christopher Andrews | Bring Them Down |
| 2024 (27th) | Luna Carmoon | Hoard |
| 2024 (27th) | James Krishna Floyd | Unicorns |
| 2024 (27th) | Karan Kandhari | Sister Midnight |
| 2024 (27th) | Rich Peppiatt | Kneecap |