All entrants must be a student in a California High School in one of the following counties:
- Riverside County
- San Bernardino County
- Orange County
To be eligible, each student's teacher must contact the Festival before March 5, 2026 using the form linked on https://highschoolfilmfestival.com
You don't need to be in attendance to win, but awards will not be mailed out. Awards will need to be picked up in person at Ramona High School in Riverside before April 30, 2026.
Film requirements:
- The film must have been produced after April 1, 2025
- Students can enter 1 video per category with no more than 3 videos total.
- All film producers, directors, cinematographers, audio technicians, editors, etc, should be high school students during all phases of the production. Actors do not have to be high school students.
- Films should be school-appropriate. Films that would be considered rated R will not be featured in the film festival. Basic Rule: If you think it might make your film rated R, then don't include it.
Photo requirements:
- The deadline for entries will be March 20, 2026
- Students can enter 1 photo per category with no more than 3 photos total.
- Must have been created during the current school year.
- Entries must be original photographs captured by the contestant using a digital (DSLR or Mirrorless) camera.
- Cell phone photos are not allowed, except for the cell phone category.
- The use of any tool or software to generate images, remove, add, or alter original scene elements using artificial intelligence is strictly prohibited.
- Permissible adjustments are limited to standard or basic photo editing techniques. These include: Cropping, Exposure and contrast adjustment, Color balance and white balance correction, Sharpening, Conversion to black and white
- Substantial digital manipulation (such as composite imagery, focus stacking, HDR merging, or generative fill features) is not permitted. All images should accurately represent the scene as it was originally captured through the camera's lens, within the bounds of the basic adjustments listed above.
- Photos should be school-appropriate.
Read more about the requirements at https://highschoolfilmfestival.com
