The 4,200 Screen Actors Guild members who will determine the nominees for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® for this year’s outstanding performances in film and primetime television will be drawn by random sample this Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2008, SAG Awards® Committee Chair Yale Summers announced today.

The SAG Awards’ separate film and television nominating committees, each consisting of 2,100 SAG members from around the country, are randomly selected anew each year. To be eligible to serve on one of this year’s nominating committees, SAG members may not have served on the same nominating committee in the past three years and must have paid their November 2007 membership dues by April 14, 2008.

Submissions for nominations consideration for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will open on Monday, July 14, 2008, at www.sagawards.org/submissions . With the actor’s permission, producers, studios/networks, agents, managers, or publicists may submit a performance from 2008 for consideration in a category of the actor’s choosing. Actors may also submit their own performances.

Nominations for the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, at the Pacific Design Center’s SilverScreen Theater in West Hollywood, carried live on TNT, tnt.tv and tbs.com. Once nominees are selected, all active members of Screen Actors Guild will receive ballots to determine who will receive the coveted Actor® statuettes for this year’s outstanding performances.

TNT and TBS will simulcast the annual presentation of the Screen Actors Guild Awards from the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. Central and 6 p.m. MT

Of the top accolades presented to performers, only the SAG Awards are conferred solely by members of Screen Actors Guild. The SAG Awards was the first televised awards show to acknowledge the work of union members and the first to present ensemble and cast awards. This past year’s simulcast of the 14th Screen Actors Guild Awards, on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 on TBS and TNT, set a new cable record for the ceremony and was the week’s top rated cable program.

Upcoming key deadlines and events leading to the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are:

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Nominating Committees Drawn by Random Sample

Monday, July 14, 2008
Submissions Open

Friday, September 19, 2008
Deadline for Nominating Committee Members to Make Address Changes

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Media Nomination Announcement & Telecast Credential Applications Open
Publicists Nomination Announcement Credential Applications Open

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Submissions Close (Due at SAG by 5 pm, PT)

Friday, October 31, 2008
Media Nomination Announcement & Telecast Credential Applications Close
Publicists Nomination Announcement Credential Applications Close

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Nominations Ballots Mailed

Monday December 15, 2008
Deadline for Paying November 2008 Dues and/or Changing Address with SAG to be Eligible for Final Balloting

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Nomination Ballots Due at the Elections Firm by 12 Noon PT

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Nominations Announced at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Records Pulled for Final Balloting

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Publicists Telecast Credential Applications Open

Friday, December 26, 2008
Final Ballots Mailed to Members

Monday, January 5, 2009
Publicists Telecast Credential Applications Close

Friday, January 23, 2009
Final Ballots Due at the Elections Firm by 12 Noon PT

Sunday, January 25, 2009
15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®