The Smiley Charity Film Awards (The Smileys) have been created to increase the exposure and celebrate the success of films made by purpose-driven organisations. Films which help raise awareness, help drive donations and tell stories about causes' good work.
Smiley Charity Film Awards is open to all registered charities, community interest companies (CICs) and social enterprises within the UK.
The Corporate Cause category is open to brands and corporate organisations with CSR and ESG films.
The International Impact category is open to charities, CICs and social enterprises based outside the UK.
Anyone can nominate a video on behalf of the charity, CIC, social enterprise, brand or corporate.
This can be the agency that created the film or the organisation itself.
If the nomination is from a source other than the organisation itself, the Smiley Charity Film Awards team will contact the organisation for approval before the nomination is accepted.
The categories are based on the charity's income for the latest financial year. This is to ensure everyone has a chance to win an award regardless of the size of the organisation and budget. These categories are:
• Under £100,000
• £100,000 - 250,000
• £250,000 - 500,000
• £500,000 - 1Million
• £1-2.5 Million
• £2.5-5 Million
• £5-15 Million
• £15-50 Million
• Over £50 Million
• Longform Under £500,000
• Longform £500,000 - 5Million
• Longform Over £5Million
The Corporate Cause category was created to recognise celebrate brands and corporate organisations that put people, planet and purpose at the heart of their business operations.
This category celebrates the diverse and impactful films submitted from around the world by charities, CICs and social enterprises based outside the UK.
It's essential to check your charity’s income. You can check your charity’s turnover using the below links:
Companies House - for CICs and social enterprises
We want The Smileys to help promote films for good regardless of the size of the organisation behind the film.
Segmenting by income creates a level playing field so that entrants are matched against others with similar resources and audiences.
You can enter 1 film in your category.
It is possible for UK charities/CICs/social enterprises to enter 2 films if you have 1 film that is longer than 8 minutes and 1 that is shorter than 8 minutes - 1 film in your turnover category and 1 in the correct longform category (based on turnover).
However, we strongly recommend only entering 1 film.
Please bear in mind if you enter 2 films you will need to work twice as hard to promote them to your supporters for votes.
Entries for the 2026 awards open on the 1 October and close on the 28 November 2025.
The Corporate Cause category is open until 6 February 2026.
It is free to enter.
The finalists for the UK and international charity, CIC and social enterprise categories are decided by the results of the public vote.
The finalists for the Corporate Category are decided by our dedicated panel of judges for this category.
The exact number of finalists will vary depending on category size and votes scored.
The winners will be decided by our panel of expert judges. The judges will select bronze, silver and gold winners from the shortlist of finalists.
The bronze, silver and gold winners of People's Choice awards in each UK and international charity, CIC and social enterprise category are decided solely by public vote.
The public can vote for their favourite film by registering their vote during the public voting stage which opens on 19 November 2025 and closes on the 30 January 2026.
Those who have registered can vote for as many films as they like but they can only vote once for each film.
There is no public vote for the Corporate Cause category.
To ensure that only 1 vote per film is counted, we ask for some basic details. This is simply so that we can make sure that the voting process is fair.
We will never give voter details to anyone else. If they opt-in to contact from us, we may contact them when we announce the winners.
Winning entries will be those finalists which, in the opinion and sole discretion of the panel of judges, best meet the judging criteria.
We have a large jury of varied professionals to avoid bias.
Any judge, with any personal interest or in any way related to a finalist in a category will not be able to score that category. The judges’ decisions are final and binding in all respects on all finalists/winners. No correspondence will be entered into.
The overall winner award for the very best film of the year. This award is based on the judges' scores.
The film that receives the highest number of public votes.
Awarded to the best film in each category based on judges' scores and feedback.
Awarded to the film in each category that receives the most votes.
There is no People's Choice for Corporate Cause as there is no public vote for this category.
Awarded to the best brand or corporate CSR or ESG film based on the judges' scores and feedback.
In every category Silver and Bronze are also awarded based on the judges' scores and feedback.
People's Choice Silver and Bronze are awarded in all UK and International charity/CIC/social enterprise categories.
The winners will be announced on 29 April 2026.
The Charity Film Awards are sponsored by Smiley, and administered by its nonprofit, Smiley Movement CIC.
Use the contact us page to contact the team.