First European wildlife film competition
Prizes will be awarded for the first time in Febuary 2025
The first award ceremony will take place on 15 February 2025 at the Hamburg Wildlife Theatre in HafenCity. All selected films will be screened there over the course of the following year.
The venue for the European Wildlife Film Awards is the cinema in the Wildlife Embassy.
Award Categories
The European Wildlife Film Awards present the highest prize money for a nature film competition in Europe. The prizes are awarded in six categories. Five of the winners are selected by an independent jury. The winner of the Audience Award is chosen by the audience and will be awarded the following year.
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Best European Film: Wildlife
This prize is awarded to the film that entails the most fascinating and impressive animal footage. The animals must be wild animals that are found in Europe.
Endowed with 15,000 Euros
Sponsor: German Wildlife Foundation
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Best European Film: Biodiversity
The prize is awarded to the film that shows the diversity of European flora and fauna in a special way, presents wildlife habitats, natural areas, landscapes or ecosystems and, if applicable, addresses their endangerment.
Endowed with 10,000 Euros
Sponsor: VILSA-BRUNNEN Otto Rodekohr GmbH
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Best European Film: Nature Conservation
The prize is awarded to an outstanding film that focuses on measures or people who are committed to the protection of nature and species. In addition to the problems of species extinction and the destruction of nature, solutions should also be shown.
Endowed with 10,000 Euros
Sponsor: German Wildlife Foundation
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Audience Award
The viewers of the competition award marks to the films shown. The film with the best overall rating wins the Audience Favorite Award. Every film shown as part of the competition program has the chance to win the Audience Award.The prize will be awarded for the first time in February 2026.
Endowed with 5,000 Euros
Award sponsor: N. N.
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Best Story
This award recognizes the best story in a film.
Endowed with 5,000 Euros
Sponsor: POPULAR GmbH
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Best Short Film
The prize is awarded to a short film that manages to present a topic in a special way in 1 to 15 minutes. Decisive factors can be originality, cinematic quality, a good story or special aesthetics.
Endowed with 2,500 Euros
Sponsor: Frankonia Handels GmbH & Co. KG
CALL FOR ENTRY
The submission period 2024 ended
Filmmakers could submit their films for the European Wildlife Film Awards 2025 March 1 - May 31, 2024 via FilmFreeway. The entry fee is 35 euros. Short films are free.
Please take note of the conditions of participation!
RegulationsThis is the jury of the very first European Wildlife Film Awards
Biologist and musician Dominik Eulberg, film producer Arnd Greve, biologist and journalist Dagny Lüdemann, Barbara Makowka from the German Forest Protection Association and Viennese researcher and museum curator Frank E. Zachos have selected the nominees from 50 films in the final. It was a constructive and inspirational meeting.
Who are the winners? We will reveal this on 15 February 2025 in Hamburg, at the gala in the Embassy of Wildlife.
Film selection and nominations
245 films have been entered to the first European Wildlife Film Competition.
All films selected for the competition can be seen in the cinema at the Wildlife Embassy.
Our selection commitee for the feature length films has now picked 50 films for the „Official Selection 2025“. These 50 films will be screened at the theatre of the Wildlife Embassy from February 2025.
Website Wildlife Embassy