Rising actor Lu Han and actress Wang Likun won awards for Most Popular Actor and Actress. Actress Zhang Huiwen, who starred as the aspiring ballet dancer in Zhang Yimou's Coming Home, won the award for Best Newcomer.

Recognized screenwriter and director Zhang Yibai received the Best Director award. The organizing committee award was handed out to Tsui Hark's The Taking of Tiger Mountain and the grand jury prize went to Twelve Citizens, which won Cinema d'Oggi a the Rome International Film Festival in 2014.

Organized by the College of Art and Media of Beijing Normal University and co-organized by China's many authoritative institutions for media including State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the festival has carried through the motto recognizing excellence in films with a festival that's "run by college students, watched by college students, filmed by college students and judged by college students."

This year, a record-breaking number of 310 films were submitted in the competition and a final 34 were nominated for awards.