Errol Williams was a pioneer filmmaker who was introduced to filmmaking at the New Brunswick Film Co-op in the late 1980's. His dramatic and documentary films were screened at festivals around the world, and his international success helped shine a spotlight on the NB Film Co-op. He had a particular gift for documentary filmmaking and after his successful production of Echoes in the Rink: The Willie O'Ree Story (1997), he went on to produce two successful and influential documentary feature films in Bermuda - When Voices Rise and Walking on a Sea of Glass. After his untimely death in 2007, a special award was set up in his honour and was presented to the winner of the Best low-budget NB Documentary film at the Silver Wave Film Festival. After the 2011 Silver Wave Awards, it was decided to use the award to help fund a short documentary project and hence the creation of this award.