April 1, 2025 – At Shine Global, we believe in the power of storytelling to transform lives, spark change, and amplify the voices of children around the world. Through our Resilience Awards, we celebrate filmmakers whose work highlights the strength, hope, and determination of young people in the face of adversity.

As we continue to refine and strengthen our impact, we are taking this year to thoughtfully assess how we can best support and elevate these important stories. As part of this process, we are pausing the open call for submissions and our team will be reviewing a curated group of films for this year’s Grand Prize, which will be a $10,000 cash prize and announced at our 20th Anniversary Celebration in New York City this September. This allows us to ensure that our awards continue to have the greatest reach and influence, both for the filmmakers and the young people whose stories they tell.

In the meantime, we remain deeply committed to supporting and recognizing filmmakers through our festival partnerships, many with approaching deadlines, including a new fellowship opportunity:

🎬 Flaherty Film Seminar Shine Global Fellowship – Providing funding for one filmmaker working in fiction and/or nonfiction to attend the prestigious 70th Flaherty Film Seminar, fostering deeper storytelling about children’s lives. Deadline: April 6. [Apply Now]

🎬 Indy Shorts Film Festival – Supporting powerful short films that showcase the resilience of young people. Extended submission deadline: April 6. [Submit Here]

🎬 Montclair Film Emerging Filmmaker Competition – Encouraging the next generation of storytellers by celebrating films from students in grades 6-12. Deadline: April 25.

🎬 Nantucket Film Festival Screenwriting Prize – Honoring compelling scripts that center on children’s experiences and resilience.

🎬 ReelAbilities Disability Stories Prize – Recognizing outstanding storytelling that amplifies the voices and experiences of young people with disabilities.

🎬 New York International Children’s Film Festival Unstoppable Kids Prize – Recognizing a family-friendly film that highlights resilience.

Since its launch, the Shine Global Resilience Awards have highlighted exceptional films that reflect our mission of improving children’s lives through storytelling.  Past winners include the feature documentaries Daughters (2024, Directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae), Name Me Lawand (2023, Directed by Edward Lovelace), and Lift (2022, Directed by David Petersen), Los Frikis (2024, written and directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz) in partnership with Nantucket Film Festival, the short documentary Ayenda (2023, directed by Marie Margolius) and the short Unibrow (2024, directed by Nedda Sarshar) in partnership with Indy Shorts International Film Festival, and the animated children’s film Savages (2024, written and directed by Claude Barras) in partnership with the New York International Children’s Film Festival, and Okthanksbye (2022, directed by Nicole van Kilsdonk) with ReelAbilities Film Festival.  

As we move forward, our dedication to elevating these powerful stories remains stronger than ever. We appreciate your support as we continue to ensure that the Shine Global Resilience Awards make the greatest possible impact for filmmakers and, most importantly, for the children whose stories deserve to be told.

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About Shine Global

Shine Global is a non-profit media company that improves the lives of children by telling powerful stories to raise awareness, promote action, and inspire change. We produce inspiring films and compelling content about underserved children. Through tailored distribution and outreach, we connect with our audiences in communities, classrooms, museums, and on Capitol Hill as part of a powerful engagement campaign to encourage social change.

Since our founding in 2005, Shine Global films have won more than 100 major awards, including an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Subject for Inocente and an Academy Award®-nomination and two Emmys® for War/Dance, and an Academy Award®-nomination for Anuja. Recent films include the documentary-animation hybrid Liyana, the hit documentary The Eagle Huntress, Through Our Eyes: Homefront which is available on HBOMax, the Ariel Award winner Home Is Somewhere Else, and Comedy Against the Odds.