Become a Judge

Thank you for your interest in judging for us! Directing Change Annual Film contest judging takes place annually each March.

Judging typically takes 2 hours or less per contest and is completed entirely online. Forms are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year, and you can expect to hear more from us as the next judging window approaches. Note: 2025 Directing Change Film Contest judging has concluded, with our next round scheduled for March 2026.

If you are interested in judging our monthly Hope & Justice Film and Art Contests, please email dori@youthcreatingchange.org before submitting this form.

(Information collected with this form will not be shared with organizations or people not associated with Youth Creating Change.)

Email*

Name*

First Last

Title (if applicable)

Preferred pronouns

Organization

Phone

Mailing Address

Street Address Address Line 2 City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code

County you work or live in

Are you a youth (age 14-25)?*

Yes

Youth are welcome to judge our contests, but we need this information to ensure they are not assigned entries that may have been created by their peers. Additionally, youth cannot judge any contests to which they have also submitted an entry.

(If you are under 14 and interested in judging, please reach out to dori@youthcreatingchange.org before signing up.)

Do you work in a K-12 school?*

Yes

Are you judging for the first time?*

Yes

Please provide short (1-2) sentence bio describing your expertise and/or interest in judging for us.

Bios are listed on our website each year and may be edited by our team as needed. View examples here.

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Are you interested in judging entries monthly as part of our Hope and Justice contest?*

Our monthly Hope & Justice category asks young people to express themselves and use their feelings and their voice to encourage purposeful action and to start conversations that matter – through art. Unlike our Annual Contest, a range of artforms – including visual art, written works, and original music – are submitted (in addition to films). Youth submit entries related to the themes of “Hope,” “Justice,” or a monthly prompt centered on mental health.

(Note: If you are a youth judge, you should only select ‘yes’ if you do not intend to submit any entries to Hope & Justice. Youth judges are also not permitted to assign scores to any entries created by any youth they know personally or who attend the same school.)

Yes

How did you first find out about this opportunity?*

L.A. Works

Idealist

Volunteer Match

Social Media/Other Online Ad

From Someone on the Youth Creating Change team

From a Friend or Family Member

Through My Workplace

Other

Do you speak any languages other than English? (Select all that apply.)

If you selected "Other," please specify.

Do you have a special interest in any of the following areas? (Select all that apply.)

If you selected "Other," please specify.

For our annual contest, youth submit films to one of the following categories: Suicide Prevention, Mental Health, Through the Lens of Culture, Animated Short, Walk in Our Shoes, and Hope & Justice. You can learn more about these categories here. The Youth Creating Change team assigns judges to categories based on a number of factors, including contest need. However, if you do have a strong preference for and/or expertise particularly relevant to a specific category, our team will try to accommodate that. Please use the box below to note your category preference (if any) and/or to elaborate on your relevant experience.

Judge Sign-Up Form