Into Film Awards 2024 winners
Check out previous winners for inspiration.
Please note: Entries for the 2025 Into Film Awards have now closed. Nominees will be announced in due course.
The Into Film Awards is our flagship celebration of young filmmaking talent, offering a platform for 5-19 year-olds from across the UK to express their creativity and tell the stories that matter to them. The Awards is our way of recognising some of the brilliant talent and creativity among young people across the UK, and winning an Award can be just the first step on an incredible journey into the world of film and beyond.
This year's Awards boasts 11 categories, including those celebrating animated, live-action, and documentary filmmaking, as well as those showcasing the best storytellers, and the next generation of filmmakers and the practitioners that support them.
Taking part in the Into Film Awards gives schools and youth and community groups the chance to develop a range of key skills to help young people increase their passion for filmmaking. Whether completely new to filmmaking or with a raft of experience under their belt, everyone can take part in the Into Film Awards. If a young person has an idea for a film, we'd love to see it.
Taking part in the Into Film Awards can lead to a range of benefits, including career development, support with academic studies, personal profile raising, enabling young filmmakers to find their voice through practical filmmaking, and meeting fellow filmmakers who share a passion for storytelling. And what's more, nominees will be invited to attend the spectacular Into Film Awards ceremony in London, walking the same red carpet as countless film stars, and maybe even winning a coveted Into Film Award trophy.
The Into Film Awards 2025
The Into Film Awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 24 June 2025, at central London's famous ODEON Luxe Leicester Square. The ceremony promises to be another unforgettable event, with famous faces from across the screen industries on hand to present the Awards.
Below, you can find out more about the categories for the 2025 Into Film Awards, plus a selection of useful resources that can help young people get started on making their future award-winning films!
The Into Film Awards categories
The categories for the Into Film Awards 2025 are:
- Best Animation (5-11)
- Best Animation (12-19)
- Best Film (5-11)
- Best Film (12-15)
- Best Film (16-19)
- Best Documentary
- Time for Action
- Filmmaking Champions
- Ones to Watch
- Audience Choice*
- Best Story**
Find out more about each category's entry criteria
* This category is a public vote via social media, and does not open until we have this year's nominees. We'll share more information after entries close in March 2025.
** Nominees in this category will be selected from across all of the films submitted to other filmmaking categories - you cannot enter this category directly.
As well as our classic categories highlighting animated, documentary and live action filmmaking across all age groups, the 2025 Into Film Awards sees the return of our Time for Action category, which asks young people to create a film that raises awareness of issues that are important to them, and explores the changes they would like to make in the world, whether big or small; personal or society wide.
This year, we've also introduced a new Best Story award, which will work a little differently to all the others. We want to honour films with creative plots, engaging characters and innovative ways of telling a story. So, rather than entering your films into a specific new category, instead all films that are entered to the Into Film Awards - across all categories - will automatically be considered for Best Story. That means if you've already submitted a film, you don't need to do a thing.
In addition, this year we'll once again be celebrating those individuals or groups that facilitate and support young filmmakers to find an outlet through filmmaking with our Filmmaking Champions award. We know there is a backbone of teachers, parents, youth groups and clubs that inspire young people to achieve their potential, and we want to honour them. In light of that, this year we will fully recognise not one, but three Filmmaking Champions, ensuring that even more of the vital behind-the-scenes work that supports young filmmakers across the UK is celebrated.
Meanwhile, our Ones to Watch category celebrates the creativity and excellence in those young people who have already achieved great things, and who we believe are destined to be the future of the UK screen industry. The Ones to Watch prize will once again offer three young people the opportunity of career progression support through BAFTA, which includes involvement with the annual Young BAFTA Showcase in November 2025. Our three Ones to Watch will also receive a cash prize of £1,000 each.
Into Film has played a huge part in encouraging me to keep making animations. Being nominated for 'Ones to Watch' makes all the hours spent animating worthwhile and inspires me to keep developing my stop motion skills.
Ben Mullan, aged 18, Bedford, England - Ones to Watch winner at the 2024 Into Film Awards
Did you know?
Our Moderation team reviews each film that is submitted to ensure that they meet the entry criteria. If we spot an issue, we will get back to you as soon as possible and give you the chance to address the problem and resubmit. You can find the entry criteria for each category here.
Issues often encountered by our moderators include the use of copyrighted music, the overt presence of logos and branding, and content that is not entirely appropriate for a youth audience. We want to allow as much time as possible for entrants to make any changes to their entries (if required), so the sooner you submit your films, the more time you'll have to benefit from our feedback and address any potential issues. We'd hate for any incredible films submitted at the last minute to miss out due to something that could have easily been fixed earlier.
How can we support you with your entry?
If you need some guidance making a film, or submitting your entry, below you can find some great places to start:
- Into Film Filmmaking Top Tips - find advice on creating your film, including guidance on your use of music and logos/branding, as well crafting a good story, advice on targeting an audience, equipment to use, and more
- Awards Submission information - discover what you'll need before you start your submission
- Awards Criteria information - make sure you're clear on the entry criteria for each category
- Terms and conditions - it's always handy to read the small print!
Filmmaking resources
If you're keen to support young people making a short film, we've got plenty of resources across all age ranges that can provide a simple and easy jumping-off point.
Our mini filmmaking guides explain every stage of the film production process, from development to distribution, whereas Six Sessions from Story to Screen gives a clear structure on how to make a film in half a term. Get Into Animation is also divided into six sessions, but focuses on the unique nature of the animation process. Finally, our Making a Wellbeing Film resource can help older filmmakers to shape their thoughts on sensitive and impactful topics, while Our Climate Documentary can help produce a climate-focused documentary film.
Previous winners
The 2024 Into Film Awards saw 10 awards presented to some of the UK's most remarkable and creative young filmmakers. A whole host of screen industry stars joined us to hand out the awards, with big name presenters including actors Simon Pegg, Thomasin McKenzie, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Jamie Dornan.
For many of our young nominees, who travelled from all corners of the UK to walk the same legendary red carpet as countless film stars have over the years, this was the experience of a lifetime. And with winning films tackling issues as diverse as racism, the Welsh language, dyslexia, the pitfalls of social media, and deadly cereal boxes (!), the Into Film Awards was a celebration not only of our nominees' remarkable talents, but also of the incredible, transformative power of film and filmmaking at large.
The brilliant winners from our last Into Film Awards, can offer fantastic inspiration and provide a more practical sense of what we're looking for in each category: Plus, you can check out the highlights video below to get a sense of what a special day the Into Film Awards ceremony can be.
Into Film Awards - Entry Criteria
Read the entry criteria for each category at the Into Film Awards.
Respect for IP
Find out about Intellectual Property and why respect for IP is so important.
Rose Ayling-Ellis to host Into Film Awards 2025
Actor and presenter Rose Ayling-Ellis MBE will host this year's ceremony