C&I readers cast ballots to honor their favorite films and TV shows that premiered during 2024.
The results are in for the eighth annual C&I Movie & TV Awards. Or as we like to call them: The Cowboys.
Nominations for the awards were culled by a C&I committee from films and TV productions that premiered, or continued, during the calendar year of 2024. C&I readers had the final word as they voted for their favorites in various categories.
Horizon: An American Saga — Part One, Kevin Costner’s epic drama about the settlement of the American West, and Elkhorn, the INSP series focused on Theodore Roosevelt’s early years as a cattle rancher, dominated the 8th annual C&I Movie & TV Awards.
Among the winners selected by the votes of C&I readers, Horizon rode tallest in the movie categories, with awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Director (Costner), Best Actress (Sienna Miller) and Best Screenplay (Costner, John Baird). Also honored in this category were two stars of the rodeo drama Ride, Forrie J. Smith (Supporting Actor) and Annabeth Gish (Supporting Actress). White Buffalo: Voices of the West, country music star Ian Munsick’s cinematic expansion of his album White Buffalo, was voted Best Documentary.
Over on the TV side, Elkhorn was voted Best Series and Best Actor (Mason Beals as young Teddy Roosevelt). Awards also went to Yellowstone (Kelly Reilly, Best Actress; Wes Bentley, Supporting Actor), True Detective: Night Country (Best Movie or Limited-Run Series; Supporting Actress, Fiona Shaw), and the Netflix docuseries Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War (Best Documentary).
Previous Best Pictures named by C&I readers include Killers of the Flower Moon (2024), Elvis (2023), 12 Mighty Orphans (2022), Let Him Go (2021), Badland (2020), The Divide (2019), and Wind River (2018). Nominations were expanded to include television productions in 2024, when Reservation Dogs was named Best Series, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves was named best Movie or Limited Run Series).
Here is a complete list of winners for the 2025 C&I Movie and TV Awards.
C&I Movie Award Winners
Best Picture
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One
Best Documentary
White Buffalo: Voices of the West
Best Screenplay
John Baird, Kevin Costner
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One
Best Director
Kevin Costner
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One
Best Actress
Sienna Miller
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One
Best Actor
Kevin Costner
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One
Best Supporting Actress
Annabeth Gish
Ride
Best Supporting Actor
Forrie J. Smith
Ride
C&I TV Award Winners
Best Series
Elkhorn
Best Movie or Limited Run Series
True Detective: Night Country
Best Documentary
Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War
Best Actor
Mason Beals
Elkhorn
Best Actress
Kelly Reilly
Yellowstone
Best Supporting Actor
Wes Bentley
Yellowstone
Best Supporting Actress
Fiona Shaw, True Detective: Night Country
A very special thanks to all of our C&I readers who cast their votes. Your voices made the eighth year of our movie awards successful! Stay tuned later this year for our upcoming C&I Movie Awards nominations.