The 2026 Sheffield DocFest Award winners have been announced at a ceremony held at Sheffield’s Crucible Playhouse.
Thirty-seven films competed this year across the five prestigious competition categories at Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s leading documentary festival.
This year’s festival was curated from over 2,900 submissions and includes 45 world premieres, 17 international premieres, five European premieres and 35 UK premieres from 64 countries.
Raul Niño Zambrano, creative director of Sheffield DocFest, said: “After six inspiring days of talks, film screenings, performances, industry pitches, and vital discussions, this edition of Sheffield DocFest has come to an end.
“But more than the packed schedule, what truly matters is what we’ve witnessed: Sheffield DocFest continues to be a nurturing space for encounters, for building networks, for dialogue and, above all, for friendship.
“All the films we’ve shared this week have found new audiences and we simply hope that the platform we’ve humbly provided helps those stories go even further.”
The main list of winners and competition selected titles can be seen below.
International Competition (Grand Jury Award) (Supported by Apple TV)
The Grand Jury Award for the International Competition was awarded to Filthy (Sucia – Per què no vas fer res?) directed by Bàrbara Mestanza and Marc Pujolar.
International First Feature Competition (supported by Netflix)
The Grand Jury Award for the International First Feature Competition Magma directed by Mia Bendrimia.
International Short Film Competition
The Grand Jury Award for the International Short Film Competition was awarded to Maybe Tomorrow directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Wafa Mustafa.
Tim Hetherington Award (presented in association with Dogwoof)
The Tim Hetherington Award was presented to The Long Cuban Night directed by Sergio Fernandez Borras.
Youth Jury Award
The Youth Jury Award was presented to Crocodile directed by The Critics and Pietra Brettkelly by five of the UK’s most passionate young documentary lovers to celebrate non-fiction cinema.
Shine Global Children’s Resilience Award for Documentary
The Shine Global Children’s Resilience Award for Documentary was presented to Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes for One in a Million.
Sheffield DocFest Football Documentary Award
The Sheffield DocFest Football Documentary Award was presented to David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas for Cantona.
More information – including the full list of prize winners – is available on the Sheffield DocFest website.
