Film Competition 2025

Results: 9 to 13 Year olds

First prize: Te Taitamatane class, Te Kura o Ōmanaia
Second prize: Phoebe, Elijah, and Millie
Third prize: Room 6 Whau Valley
Te Reo prize: Te Kura o Ōmanaia
People’s choice: Room 6 Whau Valley

14 to 18 year-olds

First prize: Susannah Hovell
Second prize: Georgie King
People’s choice: Susannah Hovell

Welcome to the 2025 Climate Action Film Competition!

The climate crisis is scary, but there are a lot of people in Te Tai Tokerau taking action. We want to see films that inspire, foster hope and show pathways to action, to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change in Tai Tokerau.

Your five to seven-minute film will share the stories of a project, group or action’s people are taking. Maybe your school has a tree planting and recycling scheme? Maybe you know a farmer who’s been planting trees or farming regeneratively? Do you know any activists, scientists or artists who are up to some awesome climate action things?

Be creative! you can use music, animation, documentary, avant-garde… just as long as your film is inspiring and clearly shows how people in Tai Tokerau are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Check out this page here, as it has loads of info about filmmaking and topic ideas.

FREE WORKSHOPS!!! Are you keen for some extra help with filmmaking? Contact us about how we can come to your school or community with a filmmaking workshop! Email us about it now – events@northlandclimatechange.org

Judging criteria

There are two age group categories: 9 to 13 years and 14 to 18 years.

General Film judging criteria 
Your film is inspiring and clearly shows how people in Tai Tokerau are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change. – Out of 10 
Artistic and Technical Merit (editing, clear audio, framing, story, creativity) – Out of 10 
Te Reo judging criteria 
Your climate action story links to mātauranga Māori through te reo. –  Out of 10
People’s Choice Award
Voting will happen during the final screening and be counted on the night, so bring along all your whānau and friends!

Prizes

Prizes are the same for both age groups

First prize: $1,000
Second prize: $500
Third prize: $200
Te Reo prize: $500
People’s Choice $500

KEY DATES

Hand-in deadline: Sunday, July 13th, midnight.

Prize giving and public screening: Saturday, July 19th. The time and location are yet to be confirmed.

Keep up to date with us on facebook here

Conditions of entry:

  1. All films must be between 4-7 minutes. 
  2. There is no entry fee.
  3. You must live in Te Tai Tokerau, Northland, New Zealand, to enter.
  4. Films must be presented in MP4 format and emailed in or handed in on a USB drive. The email is events@northlandclimatechange.org It is the contestant’s responsibility to communicate with us if there are any issues and to get their film handed in on time. The deadline is Sunday, July 13th, 2024 midnight. No late entries will be accepted unless there are extenuating circumstances.
  5. Entries will be shown on a large screen. 
  6. Films must be an original piece of work. 
  7. Entries must be G rated. Film entries that break this G rating will not be considered, as entries will need to be screened before G audiences.
  8. Films must have a title card at the start of the film, stating the name of the film and the age category in which it is entered. 
  9. Copyright of films remains with the entrant, but the entrant undertakes to grant in perpetuity the right for The Climate Change Tai Tokerau Northland Trust (CCTNT) and its completion partners and/or sponsors to screen the film at no cost, and to use all or part of the film in future promotional material.  
  10. It is the responsibility of the Entrant(s) to ensure that any images, film and/or music are copyright-free or obtain the consent of the owner and pay any royalties due.
  11. It is the responsibility of the Entrant(s) to ensure that all necessary permissions have been granted to them to film the people and locations featured in their film. 
  12. The judges’ decision is final. The judges will use a point-scoring criteria format which will be shared with entrant/s and displayed on this web page above (see “Judging criteria” above).
  13. Use of Te Reo is not required but will be considered for the separate Te Reo prize.
  14. The Peoples Choice Award will be awarded to the films who receive the most votes during the prizegiving screening event. The votes will be made available and counted at the event.
  15. Each age group will be awarded cash prizes.
  16. In the unlikely event that there be insufficient entries for any category,  the judges at their sole discretion, may decide to alter the prizes advertised.
  17. The dates, times and locations of the film screenings are at the discretion of the competition organisers. The dates may be subject (but unlikely) to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Entrants are highly encouraged to attend these events, but it is not required. If they cannot make it, this will not factor into the judging of their film and their chance of winning will not be diminished.