This year we have 6 categories and this includes two new categories to capture what is happening in the world of smartphone filmmaking and new innovations in technology and film:

1. The SF3 Gala Short Film Awards for films made my filmmakers of any age up to a max of 20 mins. 
2. SF3 Kids Awards for films made by filmmakers 18 years and under at the time of filming and up to a max of 10 mins. 
3. SF3 Mini Awards for a film that is a max of 3 mins including credits and titles and is inspired by the word, forward. 
4. SF3 Feature Film Category for a feature film entirely shot on a mobile or tablet and is a minimum of 30 mins with no max. 

Our two new awards:

5.    The SF3 AI Best Film Award – for a film written by a writer but that is made using AI technologies. NB. This is a very controversial area of the film industry right now but at SF3 we believe in embracing technology and in seeing where it can take us – always with professional writers and creatives at the forefront, but not shying away from utilising all advances and innovations in the filmmaking and creative worlds.

6.    The SF3 Best Social Media Video – for a video that was shot for social media on a smartphone or tablet. There are so many content creators shooting on phones and tablets and we want to celebrate the best. 

Within this we have our special categories too:
our: 

• SF3 First Nations Award is back to celebrate First Nations filmmakers from across the world.
• Our SF3 and Chicken & Chips Pitch Award which we are calling for pitches for short films. Pitch us your idea either in a 2 minute video or with a Pitch Deck by June 1st and the team at Chicken & Chips will help produce and professionally cast your film to play in our Gala Finals. Pitch us at sf3@sf3.com.au
• Our SF3 & Spineless Wonders Best Adaptation Award for a film that has been adapted from a story. This story can be one of the published micro-fictions available on our site or can be from a story of the filmmakers’ choosing. This is for our Mini Category. 
• Our WIFT NSW Best Female Identifying Creative celebrating female and diverse crew members on Gala films.
• Our SF3 Community Award which celebrates diverse stories and artists who are typically under-represented in the film industry and who we love to recognise. 

We have also partnered once again with the MINA Festival in Melbourne – one of the world’s other top film festivals for smartphone films – and we will be hosting a joint festival on Friday 8th November at ACMI in Federation Square in Melbourne’s CBD.