Tijdens het Internationaal Filmfestival in Washington DC won De Nieuwe Wereld vandaag de SIGNIS Award.
Uit het juryrapport: "A woman working in an immigration detainee center in the Netherlands, locked into her own suffering, is immune to the sufferings of others. A new arrival from Africa becomes a catalyst through whom she recaptures her humanity. Powerfully spare and deliberate imagery, directed by Jaap van Heusden, leads the audience through her transformation from a sterile view of life to a more richly human world of intimacy."