On the 4th July 2023, at the British Film Institute, the winners and runners-up of the Childnet Film Competition have been announced, showcasing the power of youth voice in online safety education.
The audience at the event includes The Children’s Commissioner, as well as representatives from Government, Industry, Charities and the wider online safety space.
The Childnet Film Competition, which has been running for 14 years, provides a unique chance for outstanding young film makers from throughout the UK to create meaningful short films that convey critical online safety themes. With more schools participating than ever before, this year the competition challenged young people to create films around the theme: “Time to talk! How can we support each other online?”.
The winners of the competition were determined by an expert panel of judges, comprised from organisations including BAFTA, the BBC, the British Board of Film Classification, the British Film Institute, Disney and the Motion Pictures Association. With more schools entering than ever before, these organisations faced a difficult task in selecting the winners.
Meet the winners
Primary Category (7-11 years old)
Burnham Market Primary School came first in the Primary category of 7-11 year old entrants, in their film “Time 2 Talk”. Lisa Prime, Head of Children & Young People’s Programme at BAFTA, said the film had “a strong visual style”, and that it was “well edited, [had] good music and great props”.
The other finalists in the Primary Category are Sileby Redlands Community Primary School and Sir Donald Bailey Academy.
Secondary Category (11-18 years old)
Milton Abbey School placed first in the Secondary category of 11-18 year old entrants, with their unique documentary style film “Time to talk – with Digital Cyberborough”, drawing inspiration on Sir David Attenborough’s presentation style. Mark Reid, Head of UK Learning Programmes at the BFI, said the winning film was “confidentaly scripted and performed, really carried it off, just the right mix of recognisability and zany humour”.
The other finalists in the Secondary Category are Tuxford Academy and St Matthew Academy.
You can watch all of the winning films at childnet.com/film
“A huge congratulations to all winners, finalists and entrants of this year’s competition. Their films will undoubtedly inspire and encourage other schools and young filmmakers to show off their talents and help keep their peers safe with these important online safety messages.
“This year’s Safer Internet Day research showed that young people want to make a difference through speaking up, helping their friends, and promoting online safety, and I believe all the entries we saw reflected that spirit of online safety awareness.”
Will Gardner OBE, CEO of Childnet and Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, says:
Thank you to all the young people across the UK who entered the competition, the standard of entries this year was extremely high, and we cannot wait to see what you all produce next year!
