ConnectHER Film Festival Awards 2025 ($5,000 grant) Deadline: 1 October, 2025

Applications are open for the ConnectHER Film Festival Awards 2025. The ConnectHER Film Festival welcomes submissions that focus on issues impacting the lives of women and girls, with a special emphasis on amplifying BIPOC voices.

Films—whether animated, documentary, or narrative—must explore one or more of the following themes, all centered around women’s and girls’ issues: barriers to education, access to education, leadership, digital inclusion, gender inequality, menstrual health, maternal and mental health, global health, economic inequality and empowerment (including the informal sector), poverty, food access/insecurity, political enfranchisement and power, climate action and environmental issues, refugees/IDPs, and the impact of war and conflict. These themes align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting their commitment to addressing urgent global challenges through film.

Highlighting stories of resilience is strongly encouraged for the ConnectHER Film Festival. Your film has the power to inspire, uplift, and showcase the strength of individuals and communities around the world—demonstrating that even in the face of adversity, impactful stories and solutions can emerge. Join in celebrating narratives that empower, inspire, and contribute to a brighter future.

Award Categories

• Judges’ Choice: The Judges’ Choice Award is the top recognition given to an outstanding narrative, documentary, and/or animated film, carefully chosen from among all categories by the esteemed panel of judges. The judges single out this film for its exceptional qualities, making it stand out for its overall excellence in storytelling, creativity, and cinematic achievement. Winners will receive $5,000. 1st runner up will receive $2,500.
• Best Documentary: Introduced in 2024, the Best Documentary Award recognizes exceptional filmmaking that skillfully captures true and impactful stories about individuals influencing the lives of women and girls within the specified themes listed above. This award celebrates the power of documentaries to shed light on compelling stories, contributing to a broader understanding of the issues at hand. Winners will receive $2,500.
• Best Narrative: Introduced in 2024, the Best Narrative Award acknowledges outstanding fictional storytelling in film. This recognition celebrates a film that crafts a scripted narrative through compelling characters. The winning film stands out for its narrative excellence and ability to weave engaging stories within the specified themes listed above. Winners will receive $2,500.
• Best Animation: Introduced in 2024, this award acknowledges the best animated film that addresses issues and solutions impacting women and girls within the specified themes listed above. The award celebrates creativity and skill in any form of animation or stop motion, highlighting innovative storytelling and visual artistry. Winners will receive $2,500.
• People’s Choice: The judges will select three finalists from the top ten films across all categories, with the most votes in the online audience gallery, and the ultimate winner will be determined from these three finalists. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Global Impact: The Global Impact Award was created to recognize a film that identifies inequalities and injustices affecting women and girls around the world. They are looking for films that address the issues listed above while also shining a light on an innovative solution – a local leader or a community-based solution. ConnectHER Film Festival is unique in that they prioritize films that are making an impact. Typically, the most successful films in this category introduce a problem or issue by focusing on an innovative solution and/or the resilience of the subject/s. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Stand Up Men: The Stand-Up Men Award recognizes a film that celebrates men as a subject or filmmakers themselves who are taking a stand for women’s rights. They want to start a conversation about men who are going above and beyond by taking a stand against the oppression of women globally by addressing the above issues. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Women & Work: The Women and Work Award recognizes a film that shines a light on women’s livelihood and workplace issues. These are stories about how women relate to work – in both formal and informal sectors. This category covers issues such as: equal pay, livelihood training, financial independence, historic and cultural barriers to women in the workplace, childcare, STEAM careers and education, and women’s underrepresentation in the top ranks of leadership. The Women & Work Award winner is chosen by the Gems, a group of sustaining donors to ConnectHER. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Educating Girls: According to the UN, there are 129 million girls out of school around the world, and only 49% of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education. The Educating Girls Award recognizes a short film that tells a story about educating girls and women – from barriers to successes. This award is presented by WomenServe. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Women & Health: Through this award, we aim to spotlight filmmakers whose work contributes significantly to advancing dialogue and understanding around vital global health issues and health equity. This category covers issues such as: maternal health, mental health, menstrual health, infant mortality, barriers to healthcare access in remote or underserved communities, eradicating infectious diseases, water quality and sanitation, and malnutrition and food insecurity — while recognizing that health equity is deeply connected to education, poverty, gender justice, and financial independence. This award is presented by Invest in Her Foundation. Winner will receive $2,500.
• Women & the Environment: The Women & the Environment Award recognizes a short film that shines a light on Environmental issues that impact women and girls globally — and considers solutions, be they climate adaptation, indigenous practices or women cultivating the land and sustaining the oceans, and displacement and migration strategies. Winner will receive $2,500.

Eligibility

• Films must focus on one of the topic areas. 
• They accept every type of filmmaking form and style; whether animation or live-action, documentary or narrative.
• Filmmakers must be 13 to 25 years old at the submission date. That means that scripts, storyboards, directing, cinematography, editing, etc., must be done by people who meet this age requirement. Actors can be any age.
• Films must be original works that have not yet been screened at other major film festivals.
• Films must have been completed after January 1, 2025.
• Films must be 3 to 6 minutes long.
• Film file formats accepted are .mov and .mp4. HD resolution and optimized sound quality are highly preferred. Digital submission through Google Drive is preferred, but Dropbox also works.
• All participants must adhere to the following file naming format when submitting materials: 
  • Portrait/Headshot File: Must be named using the participant’s first and last name, formatted as: FirstName_LastName (e.g. Jane_Doe.jpg).
    • Film File: Must be named using the film title followed by the names of all filmmakers, formatted as: Title_by_FilmmakersNames_Country (e.g., Sunrise_by_JaneDoe_JohnSmith_AmyLee_UnitedKingdom.mp4).

    Submissions that do not follow this naming convention may be disqualified or returned for correction.

• Viewers love to see and know about local organizations that are working on solutions! At the end of your film, include a graphic that highlights two local/national/regional organization names & logos that are working to solve the issue or problem addressed in your film.
• All films must be subtitled in English.
• Films must be submitted by the deadline to qualify. No late submissions will be accepted.
• If your film contains any graphic content, include a warning near the beginning of the film. ConnectHER has full discretion in accepting films, particularly in instances where film submissions contain nudity, profanity, violence, or sexually explicit content.
• PowerPoints will not be accepted. Films must have some cinematic value.

Evaluation Criteria

• Alignment with the award categories
• Clarity and impact of the message
• Creativity in presentation
• Cinematography and editing
• Screenplay writing

Application

Deadline: October 1, 2025

For more information, see FAQ and visit ConnectHER Film Festival.