The inaugural 'New' Awards celebrate the best talent emerging in the fields of Direction, Cinematography and Editing. It is part of a wider show; The Kinsale Shark Awards, an established creative festival (54 years) held annually in the old fishing village of Kinsale, perched on the edge of Ireland's Atlantic coast in County Cork. The emphasis is on creativity in the various fields of communication (advertising, digital and design)

The festival is traditionally held in the month of September and provides an opportunity for creatives from a wide range of disciplines; producers, directors, writers, animators, designers, photographers, editors etc, etc to attend, celebrate and network with colleagues from all over the world. We hold a number of educational workshops with internationally renowned speakers to inform, inspire and promote excellence.
The Best 'New' Category

For over 20 years the  Kinsale Shark Awards has been uncovering the brightest new directors to help satisfy the thirst for new blood. Fresh faces often bring a distinctive way of looking at things, giving an opportunity to produce work from an original perspective - it's a well known method to help elevate a film above the general clutter of everyday noise. With the explosion in demand for moving image content there has also been an accompanying rise in the requirement for those two vital supporting skills; cinematography and editing.

The contribution, effort and brilliance of these two particular crafts are integral to the success of any project. So, this year we have expanded the 'New' Category by introducing two new awards (Best New DOP & Best New Editor) to help uncover and expose those young people whose dazzling work, whilst admired, often goes unacknowledged.

For new talent, Kinsale is a wonderful way to create awareness. By promoting excellence to the hottest ad agencies and production companies on the planet, Kinsale provides a wonderful opportunity to get your work under the noses of those important decision makers who are always looking for the next best thing.

The Process

The winners are selected in a unique process which is truly democratic and transparent in the world of award shows.

Kinsale delegates are eligible to attend a screening of the shortlisted candidates and invited to vote for their favourites, and the scores are totted up. 3 points for 1st favourite, 2 points for 2nd fav and 1 point for 3rd fav - we do this for each section. It's interesting to note that the previous winners were chosen by almost universal consensus of the audience. Last year's New Director winners were Sarah Clift for her short film La Madre Buena and the Irish winner Benjamin Cleary who won for his emotional short film Stutterer, which incidentally also won an Oscar!

The Shortlist Committee

At the beginning of September after we have closed for entries, an official Shortlist of candidates will selected by this year's committee of esteemed industry experts; Lee Hickey editor at Windmill Lane, Adam Coles regional director at Panavision, Tm Hardy editor at Stitch and Lorraine Geoghegan at Hinterland.

Shark Trophy

Each piece submitted must be no longer than 15 mins
Can include commercials, spec ads, short films, music video & branded content
We can accept multiple pieces of work, but must be submitted on 1 continuous video file.
Directors - first project must have been completed no earlier than 1 Jan 2015.
DOPs - must be under the age of 29 as at 1 Sept 2017
Editors - must be under the age of 29 as at 1 Sept 2017