Dublin International Film Festival ESB Short Film Award

Eligibility and project requirements

All applicants must hold an Irish passport or be legally resident in Ireland. The age gate is narrow and specific: applicants must be 18 or over and under 29 years of age by 21 July 2026, with proof of date of birth required at submission in the form of a passport, national ID card or driving licence scan. Note that 21 July was the original deadline, and the closing date was later extended to 31 July without the age measurement date being updated, so anyone turning 29 in that ten-day window sits in an ambiguous position. Fiction short films only, including animation; documentary is excluded. Submissions may be in Irish or English only. A maximum of two script submissions per applicant. Projects must be an original idea, wholly owned and controlled by the applicant, not subject to an option agreement, with no rights previously charged, assigned or granted to any third party. Scripts must be unproduced and must not have received any other funding at the time of submission. Applications are open to a writer-director team or an individual, and co-writers are permitted provided the ownership rules still hold in full, with all writers credited at submission. DIFF and ESB employees and their immediate families are ineligible. No page or running-time limit is published anywhere in the guidelines.

Formats

Short

Eligibility

18+

Open to

Ireland

Deadlines & fees

Dates and fees checked against the official site 19 Oct 2026.

Prepare your entry

Prizes

18,000 euro to one recipient, ring-fenced for production rather than paid as a prize. Shortlisted teams must submit a budget proposal demonstrating effective and creative use of the award, and the winner enters a formal commissioning agreement with DIFF Festival CLG setting out the terms of commissioning, delivery and associated promotional activity. Whether the money is transferred to the filmmaker in tranches or spent by DIFF on their behalf is not published, and any overspend beyond 18,000 euro falls on the filmmaker. In kind on top: up to three mentoring sessions with an experienced industry professional, pitch training, and a world premiere at the 25th Dublin International Film Festival. RIGHTS ARE CLEAN AT SUBMISSION: DIFF asserts no ownership or option rights over any submitted material and all rights remain with the original rights holders. Two consents are granted by submitting, namely permission to share your script internally with trusted industry partners, and for selected filmmakers, use of name and script title for promotion. The terms of the commissioning agreement itself, which is where any stake in the finished film would sit, are not published.

Judging

A selection committee of three industry professionals assesses the scripts, and a panel of national and international industry representatives judges the live pitch; none are named. Shortlisted teams receive online pitch training and must pitch in person in Dublin, with no travel or accommodation support published. Feedback is explicitly refused twice in the rules, both for unsuccessful applicants and at the shortlist and winner stage. The winner faces a hard delivery clock: rough cut by 15 January 2027 and final delivery by 29 January, ahead of the premiere in February.

Frequently asked questions