Open call for National Youth Film Awards 2016 submissions

SINGAPORE — The National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) 2016 is calling for submissions from all media-related full-time students who are under the age of 35 and are currently enrolled in a media-related course or module at any Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Singapore.

Now in its sophomore year, the inaugural awards saw 238 submissions across 13 IHLs during its 2015 debut. Some of last year’s NYFA alumni have since gone on to win awards at the Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition and the Crowbar Awards, have their films screened locally and overseas, worked on mainstream TV/film projects, and even commissioned to shoot a music video for local band The Sam Willows’ single, For Love.

With a goal to establish a benchmark in national excellence and talent identification between the film industry and IHLs offering film-related and animation courses, NYFA is all about spotting potential and nurturing the budding Singapore filmmakers of the future. NYFA also puts the emphasis on the skills of the students’ craft, where all the awards are essentially technical and/or skill-based.

A total of 20 awards will be up for grabs this year in categories such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Documentary and Best Production Design — up from 14 categories last year. The additional six award categories added include Best Character Design in an Animated Film, Best Camera Work in a Documentary Film, Best Camera Work and Best Lighting.

All submissions are put through a rigorous short-listing process by a three-member panel that includes NYFA awards director and Sinema founder partner/managing director Nicholas Chee.

A final jury will determine the winners and they will be looking out for the quality of craft among the nominees, while focusing on technique application and technical expertise during the film-making process across the categories.

This jury is made up of 15 noted film industry professionals such as returning members film-maker Jack Neo; Ng Say Yong, the chief content officer of mm2 Entertainment; Infinite Frameworks chief operations officer and Singapore Film Commission advisory committee member Freddie Yeo; and Media Development Authority of Singapore’s director of Industry Operations, 
Joachim Ng.

New jury members include Vikram Channa (Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific), Kenneth Goh (Monstrou Studio), Lee Thean-jeen (Weiyu Films) and Alex Oh (White Noise Music).

The winning films stand to win trophies, cash prizes of up to S$2,000 per award; and most importantly, mentorship opportunities with industry stakeholders.

“Due to the outstanding entries for both the Animation and Documentary categories, we have decided to increase the number of individual awards for those categories,” 
said Chee.

“We also know that there are many specific skill sets within the craft of 
Cinematography and after consultations with the industry, we’ve decided to recognise them as individual awards.”

Shortlisted nominees will be announced on June 28, and the awards ceremony will be held on July 23, with Grace Fu, the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, in attendance as guest-of-honour.

Workshops, talks and screenings will also be held in the months of June and July; they will be open to youths who are interested in the film industry and want to expand their knowledge about film-making. Dates to be announced.

Submissions for the competition 
close at 11.59pm on April 30.