
In 2020 we wrote an article on the Academy Award Qualifying festivals for short films, following the list publised by the Academy on Oscars.org. The list is updated every year, therefore we want to make an update too! You can find everything in the Oscars’ Rules&Eligibility section of their website. The list for the 94th Oscars is available at this link, here we are organizing the festivals by country in alphabetical order, with related award(s) name(s).
Qualifying for documentary short subject.
Australia
- Flickerfest International Short Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
- Melbourne International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
- St. Kilda Film Festival: Best Documentary
Austria
- VIS Vienna Shorts Festival: Jury Prize – Documentary
Brazil
- It’s All True – International Documentary Film Festival: Best Documentary of the International Short Film Competition, Best Documentary of the Brazilian Short Film Competition
Burkina Faso
- FESPACO – Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou: Golden Foal – Documentary Short Category
Canada
- Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (Canadian Screen Awards): Best Short Documentary
- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: Best International Short Documentary Award, Best Canadian Short Documentary Award
Colombia
- Bogotà Short Film Festival (Bogoshorts): Best Documentary Short Film – National Competition
Czech Republic
- Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
Denmark
- Odense International Film Festival: Documentary Competition Grand Prix
Finland
- Tampere Film Festival: International Competition – Best Documentary
Germany
- German Short Film Award: Documentary Film 1-30 min
- Leizpig International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film: Golden Dove – International Short Documentary Competition
India
- Kerala International Documentary And Short Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
Ireland
- Cork Film Festival: Grand Prix Documentary Short Award
- Galway Film Fleadh: Best Short Documentary
Israel
- Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival: Best Short Award
Japan
- Short Shorts Film Festival: Best Short – Non-fiction
Mexico
- Guanajuato International Film Festival: Best Short Documentary International, Best Mexican Short Documentary
- Morelia International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
Netherlands
- Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen: Best European Short Documentary Film
- IDFA – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam: IFDA Award for Best Short Documentary
New Zealand
- Doc Edge International Documentary Film Festival: Best New Zealand Short
Poland
- Cameraimage: Golden Frog for Short Documentary
- Krakow Film Festival: Golden Dragon for Best Short Film, Silver Dragon for Best Short Documentary
- Warsaw Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
Portugal
- Doclisboa International Film Festival: Best Short Film in Competition
Spain
- Academia de Las Artes y Las Ciencias Cinematograficas de España (Goya): Goya Award for Best Documentary Short Film
- Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film: Gold Mikeldi for Documentary
- Documentamadrid: Jury Award for International Short Film, Jury Award for National Short Film
- Huesca International Film Festival: Documentary Short Film Contest – Danzante Award
Switzerland
- Visions Du Réel, Nyon: Best Short Film
Tunisia
- Carthage Film Festival: Golden Tanit for the Best Short Documentary
UK
- Raindance Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
- Sheffield Doc/Fest: Sheffield Short Doc Award
USA
- AFI Docs: Short Film Grand Jury Prize
- AMDOCS – American Documentary Film Festival: Best American Short, Best International Short
- Aspen Shortsfest: Best Documentary
- Atlanta Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
- Austin Film Festival: Documentary Short Jury Award
- Big Sky Documentary Film Festival: Best Mini-Doc, Best Documentary Short
- Blackstar Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Camden International Short Film Festival: Best Short
- Chicago International Film Festival: Silver Hugo for Best Short Documentary
- Cleveland International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
- Doc NYC: Shorts Competition – Grand Jury Prize Winner
- Florida Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Film
- Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: Jury Award for Best Short
- Hamptons International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Heartland Film – Indy Shorts International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- LA Shorts Fest: Best Documentary
- Nashville Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize Documentary Short
- New Directors / New Films Festival: Documentary Short Program Selection
- New Orleans Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Palm Springs International Shortfest: Best Documentary Short
- Rhode Island International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Riverrun International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- San Francisco International Film Festival: Golden Gate Award Documentary Short
- San Francisco Jewish Film Festival: Best Short Documentary Award
- Seattle International Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
- Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival: Jury Award Short, Jury Award Mini-Doc
- Slamdance Film Festival: Jury Award for Documentary Short
- South by Southwest: Best Documentary Short
- St. Louis International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short
- Sundance Film Festival: Short Film Jury Award – Non-fiction
- Traverse City Film Festival: Best Short Documentary Film
- Tribeca Film Festival: Best Documentary Short