The New Jersey School Boards Association invites high school students to submit entries into its sponsored category of the annual Garden State Film Festival: “New Jersey Hometown Documentary Short.”
NJSBA, The Garden State Film Festival, Artists Alike Studios, and the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission created the NJ Hometown Documentary Short category in the Garden State Film Festival. The films must be five minutes or less and focus on some aspect of the student’s hometown.
Entries must be a short documentary film written, directed and shot by New Jersey high school students.
Winners are showcased at the prestigious annual Garden State Film Festival and receive all the benefits of selected filmmakers. The student film nominees and their respective schools/counties are also screened at NJSBA’s annual Workshop in October.
The winning school district will also receive $500 to support film/video equipment for the curriculum. Winners will be announced in March.
You can begin submitting your student films now.
Entering the contest is free. The waiver code is: NJHOMETOWNDOC2026
Deadline for student film entries is Jan. 7, 2026.
Learn more about the Garden State Film Festival here.
For more information, please contact Robin Kampf at rkampf@njsba.org
