In 2021, the Charity Film Awards joined forces with Smiley, and together, we raised the profile of the cause-based film awards, which ended in a ceremony at ODEON Luxe, Leicester Square.
We had more than 300 entries, 550 guests, and millions more views on your charity films. And this year, we’re aiming even higher.
The awards categories are based on the Charity Commission’s turnover brackets for income in the last financial year. This creates a level playing field so smaller organisations are just as likely to receive an award as the larger, more established ones.
For each bracket, the awards body selects a gold, silver and bronze winner.
There are additional categories for long-form films that last over five minutes – these are divided into charities with an income of under £5 million and over £5 million.
The final category is the corporate cause category, where businesses can enter films raising awareness of their CSR initiatives.
Once entries close, charities have four weeks to gain votes on their films. The charities with the largest number of votes make it onto the shortlist and become finalists. There is then another voting round, also lasting four weeks, before the ceremony in March 2023.
Our panel of expert judges choose the bronze, silver and gold winners from each category. However, as well as the judges’ selection, there is also the chance to win a ‘People’s Choice’ award for each category, based on the highest number of votes – this is also broken down by turnover and has bronze, silver, and gold winners.
The best performing overall film from the judges’ pick, as well as the People’s Choice award, receive ‘Charity Film of the Year’ and ‘People’s Choice Film of the Year’.
So, there’s a lot of opportunity to win an award for your film!
We’re here to help you every step of the way. If you have any queries, email: [email protected].