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After the success of last year's edition, we're delighted to bring our Time to Inspire Storyboard Competition back for 2025 - once again giving young people aged 13-19 across the UK the chance to turn their story into a short film.
Do you know any young filmmakers with a powerful story idea just waiting to be shared? Could their vision inspire others? If so, encourage them to enter Time to Inspire, proudly presented by Into Film in partnership with world-renowned Swiss watchmaker Swatch.
Part of our Every Child a Filmmaker initiative, this exciting and educational competition aims to engage students and help them develop their creative skills and imaginations with the aim of designing a hand-drawn storyboard based on what inspires them - something unique to each young person.
The aim is simple: submit a storyboard for a short film (live action - no animations please - and with a max length of 2 minutes 30 seconds) and Into Film will support one winning entry to bring their inspirational storyboard to life as a completed film. Entries can be created by groups of up to 6 people, or by individuals. (Note: individuals will need to recruit friends to assist with the filmmaking process should their entry be chosen as the winner).
Entrants have until Monday 28 July 2025 (for postal entries) or midday on Wednesday 30 July (for email entries) to submit their storyboards.
Time to Inspire
We are on the lookout for talented young people aged 13-19 from across the UK who have an inspiring story they'd like to share. We want to showcase the positive impact a young filmmaker can have through film by inspiring future generations to aspire, be empowered or be the changemakers of tomorrow.
Young people can make a difference. They have the power to change the world as our next generation of thinkers, doers and filmmakers. What inspires you? Where inspires you? Who inspires you? Do you have a passion to improve yourself? How would you inspire others? Are you inspired to help your community? We want to bring these passions to life and share your story of inspiration.
Your storyboard can highlight inspiring people or places, break boundaries and stereotypes, show personal challenges that a young person has overcome, or anything else that inspires. We will be looking for creativity, clarity of vision, how the storyboard responds to the theme, and how well it will translate to the screen. The winning storyboard will be produced into a short film (which must be a U classification, so keep this in mind when coming up with your storyboards!) to captivate audiences at our Spring Screenings programme in 2026, where it will inspire a whole generation of young people.
With the help of our friends at Swatch, we want to give every young person the opportunity to bring their ideas to life through film, a familiar medium that they have grown up with and engage with every day. We will support young people to explore their stories and equip them in the art of filmmaking.
Want some more inspiration? Check out Dinosaur, the finished short film that was made by last year's Time to Inspire winners, and went on to be shown in cinema screens across the UK.
Into Film and Swatch
Into Film and Swatch will commission the winning storyboard and produce the short film in collaboration with the winner. The final film will be graded and rated to be screened in cinemas across the UK as part of our Spring Screenings programme in 2026, and will be made available to view on the Into Film website and Swatch platforms.
Thanks to generous funders such as Swatch, our Every Child a Filmmaker initiative is able to support and enable young people from across the UK to experience the transformational power of filmmaking and screen storytelling. The project will enable under-served children and young people to work closely with professionals to learn the creative and technical filmmaking skills they need to tell their stories, bringing new perspectives and unheard voices to the screen. In this competition, the focus is on the pre-production stage of the storyboard element.
This innovative storyboard competition is themed around inspiration. Swatch has had a special relationship with the art world since the very beginning. This passion is evident in everything the brand does, from its collaborations with emerging or celebrated artists, designers, architects and filmmakers to founding the Swatch Art Peace Hotel artist residence and partnering with renowned institutions around the globe. Swatch believes art and creativity make the world a better place, and bringing this to people everywhere is an integral part of the brand's philosophy. That makes Swatch the ideal partner with which to run the Time to Inspire Storyboard Competition.
Get your storyboard made
After the competition closes, around 30 young people - chosen from 3-5 shortlisted storyboard entries (a maximum of 6 young people per entry) - will attend a workshop in London in September 2025 to perfect the storyboard process. The workshop will enable the young people to develop their skills in creating and presenting their short film ideas to an expert and friendly panel, and learn about responding to a creative industry brief and how to work together as a team. The winning storyboard will be selected by a special panel in London at the end of the workshop day. All costs for attending the workshop will be covered, and we will work with the shortlisted filmmakers to accommodate access needs to enable full participation.
The winning group will then work with Into Film and a professional production company to turn their winning storyboard into a film between October-December 2025. We anticipate that the winning group will need to commit to about 20 hours in total, the bulk of which will take place between October-December 2025, with some shorter planning sessions possible in advance. Sessions can take place during school hours, after school and/or at weekends. We will work with the winners to plan this schedule and will cover any travel costs, being as flexible as possible. The sessions will take place at a location that suits the winning filmmaker(s). The winner will need to be available for communication with Into Film and the production company in order to sign-off the finished film in December 2025.
How to enter
Are you inspired to enter? Whether you have an existing storyboard scoped or an idea yet to be put to paper, all are welcome and encouraged.
Note: We're only looking for live-action films, so no animations, and the eventual film must be a U classification, so keep this in mind when coming up with your storyboards!
The deadline for postal entries is Monday 28 July, and for emailed entries it's midday on Wednesday 30 July 2025.
Entries can be posted to Time to Inspire Storyboard Competition, FREEPOST RTAE-BAZG-CSZZ, Into Film, 31 Islington Green, London N1 8DU. Postal entries must be received by the closing date of Monday 28 July 2025.
Emailed entries (a photograph or scanned copy of your storyboard) can be sent to entries@intofilm.org with the subject line ‘Time to Inspire Storyboard Competition'. Email entries must be received by midday on Wednesday 30 July 2025
All entries must be submitted by an authorised adult (aged 18+) and must include the authorised adult's name, email address and their permission for all young people to enter. Entries must also include each young person's first name, age and school/organisation name, where applicable. Any entry that does not follow these guidelines will be void. Terms and conditions apply.
Download the entry form
More about Every Child A Filmmaker
Every Child a Filmmaker is a commitment to give every young person the opportunity to bring their ideas to life through film, a familiar medium that they have grown up with and engage with every day.
The Every Child A Filmmaker Fund awards young people and youth groups across the UK via a range of specialist partners, enabling them to gain short film production expertise and, at the same time, build valuable life skills to support their futures.
We want to bring the screen industries, educators and parents/carers on this journey so that all children and young people, regardless of where they live, their backgrounds or the challenges they face in their lives, have the opportunity to tell their story through film.
More about Swatch
Positive provocation and joie de vivre made in Switzerland: since its founding in 1983, Swatch has shaken up the watch industry. Thanks to its striking designs that always reflect the zeitgeist, Swatch is one of the leading watch manufacturers and most sought-after brands in the world and has always stayed true to itself. The company surprises again and again, whether it be with regularly released new models or special collections. The revolutionary way in which Swatch thinks and acts has always been evident with its early involvement in action sports, such as BMX, skateboarding and surfing. The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai embodies the brand's love of art and brings together artists from around the world.
Swatch
Swatch is a proud partner of Into Film and the Every Child a Filmmaker initiative.
