New York Festivals TV and Film Awards releases 2025 shortlists

New Delhi: New York Festivals Television and Film Awards has announced the 2025 TV and Film Awards Shortlist.

Content created by global storytellers and filmmakers from six continents was judged by the New York Festivals TV and Film Awards Grand Jury. 

The 2025 TV and Film Awards Shortlist includes a range of entertainment, documentaries, investigative journalism, sports coverage, promos, streaming media, and brand image films.

Nonfiction and documentary work was also featured. 2024 Broadcaster of the Year, Al Jazeera English, saw several news and current affairs programming advance including Witness - A Vision of Justice, People and Power - The Battle for the Soul of Angkor Wat, 101 East - India's Chess Prodigies, Witness - The Human Cost of Coffee, Fault Lines - Children of the Darien Gap, and Witness - A Child of Gaza.

The 2025 Nonfiction and Documentary Shortlist features a range of stories, including:

Europe (Light and Shadow GmbH), Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy (Allegro Films), Becoming Madonna (All3Media International), Wild genius (Rangeland productions LLC), Atomic People (Banijay), Vanderlei: legs, mind and heart (Brazilian Olympic Committee), Dethroned  and Wild Vienna (Terra Mater Studios GmbH), How To Come Alive with Norman Mailer (All Rise Films), Neu Earth: Skyline (Beach House Pictures), HokkaiDouga Block No.1000 (NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Baseball Boys of Ishikawa (Fuji Television Network, Inc.), Best of the World's Destinations: Guizhou (The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia), Spain: A Dictator’s Shadow (TRT World), The Beast: Mexico's Deadliest Train (SBS - Special Broadcasting Service), Unearth (Insight Visual Company), Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour (Rex (a Zinc Media Group company), Bad River (50 Eggs Films), The Light Within Us (China Global Television Network), Viktor-IA (Voice of America), Welcome to the Forest - Mind the Gap (nautilusfilm GmbH), Orcas – Life in Black and White (Doclights GmbH), State Of Rage (ZDF ), Megafauna: What Killed Australia's Giants? (ABC Television), The Future with Hannah Fry Series 2 (Windfall Films), Headliners (Endemol Shine Australia), and Dead End: Drug Overdoses in the US (Big Story) (MediaLinks TV LLC).

Feature Documentaries that advanced to the shortlist include, Skywalkers (All Rise Films), 24 h D-Day (NDR), We Will Dance Again (Sipur Studios), Gaza (Al Jazeera Media Network), Here Lived (3 Generations), and Firefly (GMA Network, Inc).

Entertainment entries from storytellers which advanced include, My Favourite Dead Person (thelowdownconcept), Pequeño Gran Jurado - de la cocina (The Walt Disney Company LATAM), The Tattooist of Auschwitz (All3Media International), Campus Eats (Big Ten Network), Far North (South Pacific Pictures), Josefa's Return (OT: Ungeschminkt) (Bavaria Fiction), Four Years Later (Easy Tiger Productions), PUSH (ZDF), Be My Guest (Pacific Television), Marabella (Movistar Plus International), The Rebirth of Ancient Books (Radio Television Hong Kong), and The Judge from Hell (SBS).

Entertainment Specials and Telenovelas that earned shortlist recognition include, Big Night of Musicals by The National Lottery and The National Lottery's New Year's Eve Big Bash (TBI Media), Three Tears in Borneo (Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Taiwan)), A Capitol Fourth 2024 (Capital Concerts), 23rd Annual Christmas at The Grove Tree Lighting Celebration (Mirrored Media), Samurai Detective Onihei: True Master (Nihon Eiga Broadcasting Co.), Beyond Dancing (Radio Television Hong Kong), Pradhana Vizha 2024 (Mediacorp Pte Ltd), Sed de Venganza and El Señor de los Cielos, Season 9 (Telemundo). 

Broadcast Journalism entries advancing to the shortlist highlight global events and headline topics shaping the world stage. Entries advancing include: Killer Floods (Antenna 3), Native people, culture and customs of the Navajo tribe (Al Jazeera Arabic Channel), Broken News: Rotten Roots (Taiwan Plus TPS), Wei Du, Senior Correspondent, CAN (Mediacorp), The Gaza Man  (Al Jazeera Digital), Venezuela White Hands Choir (Americas Now) (MediaLinks TV LLC), SCEU: Veterans Day: Understanding "Thank You For Your Service (ESPN), and Myanmar's Gen Z fighting for a nation's future (Radio  Free Asia).

Promos entries enticed viewers to tune in. Shortlisted promos entries from global companies that advanced include Disney Channel, TV Globo, Movistar Plus+, BBC Studios, France Télévisions - France 5, ZD, Calgary Stampede, Prime Video Canada, AMC/AMC+, Phoenix TV, and MakerVille Company Limited.

Sports programming that secured shortlist status include, The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2024 (Big Ten Network), SCEU: The College Football Fire (Billy Joel Parody) and The Simpsons Funday Football (ESPN, Inc), Came from Nowhere (SBS Australia), “Shirley” (Fox Sports/Innovative Images Inc.), Dare to Dream (China Global Television Network Corporation), Team GB Homecoming by The National Lottery (TBI Media), The Dream of Every Champion (CGTN), Doping Top Secret: Dirty Games (EyeOpening.Media GmbH), Baloubet: drama and glory of a gladiator (Brazilian Olympic Committee), and Black Heritage Football Club (TV Globo).

Corporate Image entries highlighting leading global brands advanced to the shortlist, including: Stepping Up and Learning Integrity for PwC (The Edge Picture Company (a Zinc Media Group company)), Dilemma Season One for Digital learning management system (Deloitte Global), The Bridge for Saudi Aramco (RD Content), Unsilence The Crowd for Sela x Newcastle United (Sela), GIS Uniting our World (UC24 Act 1) for Esri (Esri), Behind the Smile for Tesco (DRPG), Empathy - A Poem for HSBC (Media Zoo), RTHK Embraces AI for People for Radio Television Hong Kong (Radio Television Hong Kong), and History of Technology for HSBC (Plastic Pictures).

Streaming content that earned shortlist recognition includes: Argentina '78 (The Walt Disney Company LATAM), Mexico's Migrant Crackdown | Start Here (Al Jazeera Digital), Dear Santa, The Series Season 2 (Traverse32), The Medalists 1 (SIC Television), Miniclips: Native American Nations (ClickView), Makan On Wheels (WaWa Pictures), and Bounce (The Animation School).

New York Festivals and JusticeAid are partnering on a new honour, the JusticeAid Award, which will recognise the highest-scoring entry across all Social Justice categories in the Radio and TV and Film competitions.

New York Festivals will award the annual WaterBear Award, an award that honours the highest-scoring documentary across the Climate Change and Sustainability, Environment and Ecology, and Nature and Wildlife categories at this year’s Storytellers Gala.

All entries in the 2025 competition are judged online and screened by NYF’s TV and Film Awards Grand Jury of 160+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals.

The 2025 award-winning entries will be showcased in the TV and Film Awards winner’s gallery.  

Award-winning entries will be announced during the New York Festivals 2025 Storytellers Gala virtual event on May 22 at 6 PM EDT. The virtual event will include featured global audio and video highlights, award winners’ acceptance speeches from around the world, and spotlights featuring radio and television storytellers.