Short Film & Branded Content 2023

We have merged our Short Film & Branded Content into one section so that all the entries are judged by the same jury.

Jury

A big thank you to this year's judges;

Jane White - Founder JW Collective

Jane is the Founder of JW Collective, established in 2016 to find fresh and future-facing ways of delivering production craft for film, commercials and content.  She is happiest connecting production and creative talents! Her roster includes partnerships with the leading global service production companies - Division.Film, Indochina Productions, Radioaktivefilm, Shelter Film and Twentyfour Seven, along with the award-winning director/screenwriter Tom Carty and The Nerve boutique music library. During her career, Jane has worked across multiple industry sectors - Agency Board Account Director at Euro RSCG, Client Services Director at Framestore and brand Owner/Marketing Director of a financial services start-up.  She’s an avid supporter of the FireFlies charity cycling team and a Voluntary Director at The Conscious Advertising Network, where she EP's the production of their 'Conscious Thinking' podcast.

Karen Cunningham - Director at Prettybird

Karen Cunningham trained as an actress, spent time as an account person here and in Hong Kong, and produced and talent spotted for some of London’s top production companies before co-founding her very successful production company Pink Films. Her first film as a director, ‘Wonderful World’, which she wrote and directed for the Half Moon Theatre Company, won a plethora of awards including a Silver at the BTAA Awards. Her second film for graduate recruitment for BBH won a Best New Director Award at Kinsale and at YDA/Shots. She was also featured on their front cover. Since then, she has gone on to direct commercials and content for agencies and clients all over the world and has won over 25 Global a

Josh Steele - Senior Creative at Arsenal Football Club

Josh is Senior Creative at Arsenal Football Club heading up the conceptual department at the club’s new in-house creative studio aptly named Arsenal Creative Studio. He’s previously worked at agencies inlcuding BBH, Mother, Iris and The Midnight Club and studied at Watford under Tony Cullingham.

Stephen Rogers - Creative Director at Droga5 in Dublin

Stephen has a passion for brilliantly crafted ideas that make a real impact. From his recent global campaign ‘Play is your Superpower’ for LEGO to his multi-award winning campaigns Sleeping Flags, JFK Unsilenced, Hope Couture and Shred of Decency, Stephen has an eye for an idea that will get the world’s attention. Stephen also brings that craft to his personal work where he has written an award winning kids book for a homeless charity, created the world most brutally honest estate agents to highlight the housing crisis in Ireland and partnered with Amnesty International to push for female productive rights.

Ricky Rose - Director at 1staveMachine

Ricky is a British-Jamaican, London based video director with a passion for creating unique and impactful visual content. Over the last decade, he has had the privilege of working with a variety of clients, including artists SKEPTA, Erykah Badu, JORJA SMITH, Lianne La Havas and brands NIKE, Vogue, Amazon, V&A, YouTube, INSTAGRAM and more. He has lots of experience and ability to craft compelling stories and visuals that resonate with diverse audiences. His style and approach to video direction portrays his culture and uniqueness in every way.

Jane White

Karen Cunningham

Josh Steele

Stephen Rogers

Ricky Rose

It took 2 months for the judges to watch all the entries, hundreds of films from all over the world, and then 2 days in Brighton, working out of the Soho Beach House, deciding the shortlist then negotiating the winners.

The full list of winners and finalists can be found on our Sharks Award-Winning Search Page

Winners Screening Party

This year we screened all the 17 winning films from both Short Films and Branded Content sections at the iconic Everyman Cinema in London's Hampstead.

Short Film Categories

• Best Short Film under 25 mins

• Best Short Film under 15 mins

• Best Short Film under 10 mins

• Best Short Film under 5 mins

• Best Animated Short

• Best Documentary Short

• Best Irish Short Film

• Best Acting Performance

• Best Animation

• Best Cinematography

• Best Direction

• Best Writing

• Best Editing

• Best Original Music

• Best Production Design

Branded Content Categories

• Best Documentary under 5 mins

• Best Documentary over 5 mins

• Best Fiction under 5 mins

• Best Fiction over 5 mins

• Best Filmed Brand Experience/Stunts & Events/TV Shows etc under 5 mins

• Best Filmed Brand Experience/Stunts & Events/TV Shows etc over 5 mins

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