Arkansas PBS's "Student Selects: Emerging Filmmaker Program" is a program for kindergarten through 12th-grade students, created to highlight the bright future of Arkansas's youngest filmmakers. We encourage all types of submissions! Categories include: documentary, narrative, animation, and music videos, but what you submit is only limited to your creativity and imagination. The program, now in its fourteenth year, premieres chosen films on Arkansas PBS and on Arkansaspbs.org.

We screen selected work at the Student Filmmakers Showcase in May/June and at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in October.

Plan to enter your student film into Arkansas PBS’s Student Selects and be eligible for amazing opportunities to get your film screened beyond the classroom and earn cash prizes!

Awards & Prizes

Arkansas PBS partners with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (an Agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage) to present the Arkansas Historic Film Prize Arkansas Historic Places Film Prize (Grades 5-12). Sponsored by the AHPP, the competition honors documentaries made by students about any historic site in the state. Visit ArkansasPreservation.com to learn more.

Screenings and Workshops
For middle school and high school students, Arkansas PBS and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (HSDFF) present the Emerging Filmmakers Program. During the festival we screen student-created documentary films and present a one or two-day, multi-phase workshop that allows young filmmakers to learn more about the genre of documentary filmmaking. Students explore short-form documentary filmmaking as a means of expression and learn how the technical aspects of shooting, sound and editing bring that expression to life. Access to the festival and acclaimed filmmakers are part of the Emerging Filmmakers Program.

Rules & Terms

Student Selects Rules and Guidelines
* Students must be a public, private or home school student in Arkansas.
* Formats and genres include, but are not limited to: narrative, documentary, music video and PSA.
* Presentations in other forms, like PowerPoint, will not be accepted.
* Films can be any length. With the exception of the "Arkansas Historic Places Student Film Prize."
* Students must agree to the terms and conditions stated below.
* Students must adhere to the rules of each individual contest you are entering. Arkansas Historic Places Student Film Prize guidelines are below.

Terms and Conditions
* Arkansas PBS reserves the right to flag and edit any program that has sensitive content. The flag categories are "sex," violence," and "language." There is an additional distinction between real and dramatic violence. Examples of flags include, but are not limited to, sexual situations, dramatic/real dead bodies, and offensive language.
* Arkansas PBS may distribute the program in its entirety, including any and all titles and credits, at its discretion, or preempt its scheduled release for any reason.
* The producer grants "Arkansas PBS Student Selects" the non-exclusive rights to reproduce any part of the film and to exhibit the film by any medium for the purposes of broadcast/screening or its promotion. This includes its online distribution through the Arkansas PBS website and/or a third party, such as YouTube.
* In addition the producer guarantees that he/she has obtained all the necessary permissions and clearances to enter this film and that the film and all of its elements and/or screening of the film does not infringe on the copyrights of any third party. Any claims made by any person or entity against the film, actors, crew, locations, or any other party are entirely the responsibility of the producer. The producer also assures guidelines specified on this page.

Special Rules and Guidelines

Arkansas Historic Places Student Film Prize
The Arkansas Historic Places Student Film Prize sponsored by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program an Agency of the Arkanasas Department of Heritage in partnership with Arkansas PBS honors documentaries made by students in grades 5- 12 about a historic property that is at least fifty years old or older. Sites do not have to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, although they may be, but must be a building, archeological site, or other site with historic significance.

A prize will also be provided by Preserve Arkansas for winning films focusing on properties currently on the Most Endangered Places list.
* Students must be in grades 5-12
* Films must be 5 to 15 minutes in length.
* Films must be non-fiction.
* Formats include, but are not limited to, video, animation, stop-motion, and Claymation.
* Films must focus in some way on a historic site in the state of Arkansas that is 50 years old or older.
* Presentations in other forms, like PowerPoint, will not be accepted.