How Voting and Judging Works

In addition to our Audience Award which is given to the film that receives the most votes on the night of the festival, we also give out a Best Picture award and a NAFFFF award. These are awarded by a panel of judges comprised of film professionals, community members, and 187 parents. The process is as follows:

2022’s Judges

  • A call is sent out to the school community asking for volunteers to judge—the only criteria being that they must have a love of film and not have a child entering a film in the festival that year. 

  • To fill the remaining slots, the producers reach out to people in their own networks. All judges and their bios are disclosed in the printed Film Festival Program.

  • Judges watch all the films and select their top 5 choices for Best Picture and their top 3 choices for NAFFFF Awards. 

  • Based on a point system, a PTO executive board member whose kids do not have a film in the festival, receives the ballots and tallies the results.

  • For best picture, the film with the most points in both ES and IS are declared the winner. This winner is known only to the board member who tallied the results who then seals the results in an envelope which is revealed live on stage. The top five films with the most points are declared finalists and recognized as such on stage.

  • For NAFFFF, a similar process is followed, where a point system decides the winner; however, no finalists are declared or announced. 

  • The Audience Award is decided live at the festival via voting through a Google form. All in-person attendees are encouraged to vote from their mobile devices and all films are listed on the ballot. The results are announced on stage shortly after voting ends. 

Constructive anonymous feedback is welcome here.

Want to get involved in next year’s film festival? Click here and the producers will reach out next year.