Sheffield Doc/Fest to pay tribute to former festival director Heather Croall with Inspiration Award.

Heather Croall, who was Sheffield Doc/Fest’s CEO and festival director from 2006 to 2014, is to receive the festival’s Inspiration Award.

Croall, who stepped down in mid-February, will be presented with the award before opening night film The Look Of Silence on June 5 at the Sheffield Showroom Cinema.

During her tenure, Doc/Fest introduced Crossover Labs; the ‘MeetMarket’ to generate funding for new projects; a Mini-MeetMarket that saw young filmmakers bring projects to be mentored by experienced professionals; and a Youth Jury Awards .

Since 2006, industry delegate numbers have grown from 500 to over 3,200, and public audiences expanded from 2,000 to over 26,000.

Croall was director of nine festivals at Sheffield and moved back to Australia to take up the position of CEO and festival director of the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Discovery Channel exec Liz McIntyre was named the new festival director of Doc/Fest in April.

This year’s Doc/Fest will run June 5-10.