The awards were marred by controversy, when 14 Quebec film directors signed an open letter announcing a boycott of the awards over their handling of Quebec films. The signatories were Gilles Carle, Denis Héroux, Claude Jutra, Marcel Carrière, Denys Arcand, Clément Perron, André Melançon, Jacques Gagné, Gilles Therien, René Avon, André Bélanger, Jean Saulnier, Roger Frappier and Aimée Danis. They expressed the view that English Canadian and French Canadian film were two different domains which could not be directly compared against each other in the same categories but instead needed to each have their own selection criteria and even their own separate awards, and criticized the funding processes of organizations such as the Canadian Film Development Corporation, the National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The directors chose to protest even though the awards had been scheduled to be presented in Montreal. Although the directors stated that they intended their letter as a "quiet" gesture, it had an explosive impact; the Canadian Film Award gala scheduled for October 12 was cancelled, with the winners of the awards announced only at a press conference, and the awards were entirely cancelled in 1974, with the 26th Canadian Film Awards not taking place until 1975. Producers and film distributors from Quebec, conversely, dissociated themselves from the directors' move. Despite the boycott, several of the boycotting directors' films were named as winners, although Carle's win of the Wendy Michener Award, for "outstanding contribution to the Canadian Film Awards and the Canadian film industry", was booed in the theatre.
The awards faced further controversy when Slipstream was announced as the winner of the award for Best Feature Film. The film's Best Feature Film win, over Kamouraska, Réjeanne Padovani, Paperback Hero and Between Friends, was widely derided by critics. The Globe and Mail film critic Betty Lee acknowledged that the film showed some promise on Acomba's part, but concluded that it "sags embarrassingly under its weight of honors". In its December 1973 year in review, the paper named it as the worst film of the year, and singled out the Canadian Film Award jury for a special "Grand Prix for General All-Around Stupidity" for choosing it over four much stronger nominees. Its victory was also later cited as an indication that the boycotting directors had been correct in their beliefs that the Canadian Film Awards had a systemic bias against Quebec films.
Musical Score: Willie Lamothe, Tristan Hansinger, Chick Peabody and Peter Van Ginkel, The Death of a Lumberjack
Screenplay: Jacques Benoît and Denys Arcand, Réjeanne Padovani
Overall Sound: Jean Rival, L'Infonie inachevée... and Joe Grimaldi, Paperback Hero
Non-feature craft
Actor: Marcel Sabourin, Des armes et les hommes
Actress: Jackie Burroughs, Vicky
Art Direction: Denis Boucher, The Sloane Affair
Cinematography: Paul Vézina and Paul Maltais, Faire hurler les murs and Pierre Letarte, The Ungrateful Land
Direction: Douglas Jackson, The Sloane Affair and Arthur Lamothe, A bon pied bon œil
Editing: Claude Lavoie, Faire hurler les murs and Danielle Gagné, A bon pied bon œil
Sound Editing: Arla Saare, The Shield
Musical Score: Les Stein, Faire hurler les murs and Herbert Helbig, To War and Back
Screenplay: Douglas Jackson and Alvin Goldman, The Sloane Affair
Non-Dramatic Screenplay: André Melançon, Des armes et les hommes; Keith Harley, The Winning of Nickel; Pen Densham, J. Fisher and John Watson, Streetworker
Sound Recording: Richard Besse and Jacques Chévigny, Station 10 and Karen Foster and Clarke Da Prato, Are You Listening
