The British Short Film Awards

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR THE BRITISH SHORT FILM AWARDS (BSFA) 2023 SUBMISSIONS

Please do not contact us via email, social media or any other means asking for a discount or fee waiver code. We do not give them out. We do however post discounts every now and again on our instagram page, so please keep an eye on that instead!

If you receive your submission confirmation email from FilmFreeway, then your submission has been received. There is no need to contact BSFA to follow up on it, or ask about its progress.

If you have selected 'student entry fees' and your film is selected, then you will be contacted to show proof that you and key members of the production (writer, director, producer), were current students when the film was produced. Failure to do so will result in disqualification and no refund will be given.

The British Short Film Awards is a global competition and 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹. We will only show clips and trailers, not the full short film, so this does not impact your valuable festival premier status.

There is no limit to the number of categories you can submit to.

Only one award is given out for free to the winner of each category and however multiple awards can be bought for other direct contributors to that category i.e. if there are multiple producers, composers, co writers etc

To be eligible, short films must be 25 minutes or under, excluding credits.

Submitters agree to have have short clips and frames of their films used on BSFA social media, website and other media.

Only films completed on, or after, January 1st 2021 are eligible for submission.

To qualify for the British, English, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh Short Film categories respectively, the submitted film must have been largely produced in that country with a cast and crew predominantly from that country.

Although Northern Ireland is not geographically in Great Britain, citizens can hold a British passport if they choose, thus are included in the awards.

Submitters agree to join the BSFA newsletter from which they can unsubscribe from at any time.

No submitter information will be shared or sold to third parties, but may be shared with official brand sponsors and partners.

We promote inclusivity and encourage filmmakers to give the option of subtitles on their work.

All films not in the English language must have English subtitles.

Screenplay submissions must be 25 pages or under.

Submissions will be accepted via FilmFreeway only.

Entry fees are nonrefundable.

All judging and jury decisions are final.

BSFA reserves the right to enter films into alternate or multiple categories at their discretion.

We do not accept extremist or propaganda content from religious or political organisations.

All rights, clearances and permissions must be obtained prior to submission and applicants must ensure that they have the right to submit the work with regard to third parties connected to the production of the film in question. By entering your work you agree to this and the responsibilities involved. The British Short Film Awards assumes no responsibility for violation of copyright law.

Please note that submission fees will not be refunded if your film does not meet these conditions and The British Short Film Awards reserve the right to disqualify any submissions that don’t adhere to the above terms.

If an opportunity to screen a submitted short film arises, the BSFA will contact the submitter directly.

Thank you for your interest in The British Short Film Awards, we look forward to watching your films.