Smiley Movement, a non-profit organisation sponsored by the original Smiley brand, has announced that entries to the Charity Film Awards are now open, with a six-week window for submissions.
The world’s largest campaign for cause-based films joined forces with Smiley Movement this March and is encouraging charities and corporate causes to submit films to compete for public recognition. The event will offer entrants access to the combined platform of Smiley Movement and the awards body, along with media coverage.
Any registered charity, charity media agency or brand with a corporate social responsibility initiative is invited to enter a film in the awards, provided it was created in the last 18 months. Companies are encouraged to submit films for projects or campaigns that benefit society or the environment.
Charities are categorised based on income generated in the last financial year, a People’s Choice category and overall winner. Smiley Movement said this is to create a level playing field so that smaller organisations are just as likely to receive an award as the larger, more established ones.
This year Smiley Movement hopes the awards will expand to audiences of thousands of charities. Among the winners of last year’s event include the Shahid Afridi Foundation, an organisation improving basic services in Pakistan, which won the People’s Choice award for the income bracket of £100,000 to £500,000.
More than 1,500 films have entered the Charity Film Awards in its five-year history. Over a quarter of a million members of the public have voted and millions of additional views have emerged for the participating organisations.
Founder of the awards, Simon Burton, said: “We should celebrate how films are an amazing and positive means to create emotions in us that provoke us to act and make the world a better place. So, the awards are not just about promoting great films but about helping people see those films in new ways.”
The Charity Film Awards campaign director Madeleine Johnson said the main objective of the awards is to get more views for charities’ campaigns: “If we can gain just one additional view for each organisation then that’s potentially one new supporter and one more individual reaching out to their community.”
Nicolas Loufrani, CEO of SmileyTM added: “I hope that Smiley Movement is going to multiply the number of views these great charity films get by at least 10 times, and in doing so that we’re going to enable them to get more volunteers and to generate more donations.”
