Competition Announcement
The rules for taking part in Booktrailer Film Festival
The rules for taking part in Booktrailer Film Festival
COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT
The BOOKTRAILER FILM FESTIVAL (BFF) is promoted by Liceo Scientifico A.
Calini in collaboration with:
● Faculty of Communication Sciences of the John Paul II Pontifical University in Krakow in collaboration with the Polish secondary school Zespol Szkol Ogolnoksztalcacych nr 2” in Nowy Targ
● Bulgarian night school 5 “Penio Penev” in Sofia in collaboration with the secondary school 192 “Hristo Botev”, Bistritsa, Sofia;
● Croatian secondary school “Gimnazija Karlovac”, Karlovac;
● Romanian secondary school “Colegiul National Spiru Haret”, Bucarest;
● IISC “E. Amaldi”, Barcelona.
The Booktrailer Film Festival is a place for meeting and discussing literature and the ways
it has been promoted through cinematographic and web language. It holds meetings, workshops with writers, journalists, actors, film directors and other experts. It engages schools, libraries, bookshops, associations, and websites aimed at the promotion of literature through cinema. In fact, the aim of the project is to spread the booktrailer, a short video recreating a book and inviting people to its reading, online and at the cinema.
The official information channels for the Booktrailer Film Festival include: the interactive web platform (www.booktrailerfilmfestival.eu), the connected Facebook page and Instagram profile, and the newsletter.
Its Partners are:
● for the European aspects of the project ‘Atelier Europa’, Brescia;
● for the Booktrailer Film Festival JUNIOR ‘Giosuè Carducci’ Lower Secondary
School, Brescia;
● for Communication and audiovisual training and education ‘Accademia Laba’, Brescia;
● AGEnda Cinema, a Fedic Cineclub in Brescia, which provides events and experts for
local training activities
● Informagiovani and Rete biblioteche Brescia, which offers educational places and training opportunities;
It collaborates with schools, libraries, institutions, bookstores, associations, publishers and Internet sites for the dissemination of reading and cinema.
An important moment of the Festival is a contest in which lower and upper secondary school students’ engagement and creativity are involved to independently create the booktrailers.
Created by Liceo Scientifico ‘A. Calini’ in 2007 the Booktrailer Film Festival became European in 2016 thanks to the involvement of schools from different European countries, which are now partners, in an Erasmus+ Project.
A great part of the Festival is the competition among booktrailers created by students who attend secondary schools and from 2018-2019 from pupils of lower secondary schools too.
The award ceremony takes place on April 17th 2026 at Teatro Sociale in Brescia. A national jury of experts, for each country involved, proceeds to designate winners of the Jury Prize’ and the awarding of prizes. Moreover, each national jury selects by March 31st 2026 a maximum of three booktrailers that will take part in the European competition.
The winning booktrailer of each national section will be screened during the awards ceremony. Other booktrailers of the European partners, up to three for each nation, will be shown according to the unquestionable judgment of the Italian jury.
A jury of visually impaired experts, chaired by an Italian film director and scriptwriter, autonomously designates the winner of the ‘Accessibility Prize’ among the booktrailers selected by the Italian juries and possibly by different national jures (maximum three booktrailers per nation). The Accessibility Prize is sponsored by UIC (Italian Visually Impaired People Union).
A European jury, composed of one teacher and one student from each partner school and chaired by the Italian jury president, assigns the ‘European Teachers and Students’ Jury Award’ among the three booktrailers chosen by the European partners.
A working team, composed of various subjects involved in the project, organizes the competition, which is to be repeated annually, and all of the initiatives related to the Festival.
A scientific committee, composed of some leading figures in different fields (cinema, literature, art, music, advertising) and chaired by the Headmaster of Liceo Scientifico A.Calini, guarantees the cultural quality of the initiative.
The names and biographies of the members of the scientific committee and juries can be found on the Booktrailer Film Festival’s official website, provided by the following link:
https://www.booktrailerfilmfestival.eu/en/juries and
https://www.booktrailerfilmfestival.eu/en/scientific-committee.
WHO CAN TAKE PART
Individual students, groups of students, or entire classes of lower and upper secondary schools can take part in the Booktrailer Film Festival Competition.
HOW TO SIGN UP FOR THE CONTEST
The sign up request is free and it must be completed, exclusively online on the Festival website https://booktrailerfilmfestival.eu/ from December 1st 2025 to February 28th 2026 at 11.59 p.m. The booktrailers, unpublished and not published elsewhere before the awards ceremony, must be sent to the above website. The choice of the book to be reworked is up to the participant(s). Having registered as ‘users’ on the platform does not necessarily imply taking part in the contest.
The authors who intend to participate in the contest must:
● Access to the youtube.com platform;
● create a personal channel on https://youtube.com (called after the name of the participant);
● upload the booktrailer on YouTube opting for the “Unlisted form” (please, don’t confuse it with “private form” or “public form”);
● add English subtitles according to the YouTube procedure so that they can be visible or not according to the watchers;
● save the booktrailer’s YouTube Link in its full, extended form;
● sign up on the BFF platform and create a user profile, then confirm the registration by clicking on the email link;
● complete the user profile with truthful information, paying very much attention to fill in the Country section and email;
● sign up to the contest, filling in the application form in every part by paying attention to:
● filling in the box with the title of the book which has to be in the national language and in brackets the title in English. For example, Il vecchio e il mare (The old man and the see);
● the “synopsis box” is to be filled in both in the national language and in English;
● uploading the youtube full link, otherwise it won’t be visible on platform;
● everyone taking part in the project has to be registered on the platform.
Participants are responsible for compilation errors, including those that are related to the link provided for viewing the booktrailer. The Booktrailer Film Festival’s staff isn’t responsible for checking and reporting on these errors. After the submission of the registration form and the uploading of the booktrailer, it won’t be possible in any case to modify the submitted information. Every student can only present one booktrailer. In the case of group works, the participants are allowed to present only one other booktrailer individually or in other groups. It is important, in the case of a work created in a group or class, that all the names of the co-authors are included during the registration phase.
As regards copyright violation, all instructions are available on the website. Only the booktrailer’s author(s) will be responsible for any possible violation.
Please, regularly check on the news page of the platform, some little changes could be done after the publication of the announcement.
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS TO VALIDATE THE PARTICIPATION
Keeping in mind that the choice of the book is free, the booktrailer:
● must be the result of the students’ autonomous work (teachers or experts can only play a cultural stimulation role in the production of the work);
● must have the same title as the book;
● cannot last more than 1 minute and 30 seconds, credits included;
● cannot contain a third person’s intellectual property;
● must not be published or published elsewhere before the announcements of the juries;
● can be in any language but must have English subtitles, embedded in the video according to the Youtube uploading procedure, overlaid in the booktrailer;
● must have credits in which all of these elements must be present:
· Cover of the book and the BFF logo;
· Names of the participants and their role;
· Name of the school, City and Country;
· Name and origin of the music tracks used;
· Provenience of any other further image used (pictures, original videos, etc).
Booktrailers not respecting all of the above criteria could be excluded from the competition.
AWARDS
The contest, reserved to lower and upper secondary schools, awards distinct prizes at the unquestionable judgment of the different juries:
● one prize given by the Italian Jury;
● a prize for accessibility awarded by the UIC Jury (Italian Visually Impaired People Union);
● national prizes assigned by the national juries elected by partner schools;
● a European Teachers and Students’ Jury Award;
● an online Audience Award, as the result of the on-line voting procedures on the web platform, which will be open from 7th to 12th April 2026.
The competition reserved to the lower secondary school awards (valid only for the Italian contest): a first prize awarded by the Junior Italian Jury. The best four booktrailers selected by the Italian Junior jury will compete for the accessibility prize.
AWARDS CEREMONY
All prizes are made public on April 17th, 2026 at ‘Teatro Sociale’ in Brescia. An English translation will be provided.
During the following days prizes and motivations will be published on the Booktrailer Film Festival website.
The members of the Italian Jury for the upper secondary schools will meet on March 31st, 2026 at 3 p.m. They will evaluate the booktrailers and will award a cash prize to the best work of €1000 and a plate. Further mentions could be given for the works of particular value.
Because of the attention that the Festival pays to the theme of accessibility, an Accesibility Jury will be committed to give a special mention and 200 euros to the most accessible booktrailer for blind or partially-sighted people, with the support of the Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti of Brescia (Italian Visually Impaired People Union). Each national jury can send a maximum of three booktrailers among the finalists to compete for the accessibility award. The accessibility jury will meet on April 10th at 6 p.m.
The European Award will be communicated on the same evening and it will consist of €1000,00 and a parchment.
The online Audience Award will be assigned on the same evening and will consist of 200 euros in order to buy some books or/and audiobooks purchasable online by “Il Narratore” publisher. The online competition is open from 7th to 12th April 2026 among the best
booktrailers chosen by each national jury (maximum ten per nation to be sent by April 4th).
LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS
The members of the Italian Jury for the lower secondary schools meet on March 31st 2026,at 3 p.m. They will evaluate the booktrailers and will award a prize that will be communicated to the best work. Further mentions could be given.
EUROPEAN JURY
The members of the European Jury, composed by one teacher and one student from each school partner and a linguistic mediator, will exclusively operate online, selecting the winning booktrailer among a maximum of three best ones chosen by the national juries. The online jury meets on April 10th 2026, lead by the president of the Italian Jury.
CRITERIA FOR AWARDING PRIZES
The Juries indicate the winners and the selection of the booktrailers to show and, at their unquestionable judgment, based on the following criteria listed in no order of priority:
● clarity (communicative competence);
● originality (creative competence);
● use of technology (digital and movie competence);
● text comprehension (literary competence);
● product completeness and resources employment (managing competence). All of the awards, except the on-line Audience Award, are accompanied by a written motivation that is made public during the Award Ceremony and that will appear on the website.
FINAL INFORMATION
The registration form for the Booktrailer Film Festival Contest implies the unconditional acceptance of this announcement.
The schools and the authors undertake to guarantee the existence of individual disclaimers issued in accordance with the law by the parents of each minor participating in the competition, aimed at authorizing the dissemination of the booktrailers involving the same minors, with the commitment also to exhibit the same declarations upon simple request of the Festival organisation.
The calendar and the schedule of the screenings are the responsibility of the festival. The Booktrailer Film Festival working team, that is to say the organizer and promoter of the event, can make decisions on any matters not included in this notice.
The booktrailers received will become part of the Booktrailer Film Festival archive for any future educational and research purposes.
The works selected for the competition may also be published online without any commercial purpose on the Booktrailer Film Festival web platform www.booktrailerfilmfestival.eu, in connection with the Liceo Calini website www.liceocalini.gov.it and other partner schools. All rights related to the work are owned by the authors.
The Booktrailer Film Festival reserves the right to network and / or use the booktrailers on a royalty free basis, only for cultural purposes and not for profit, to promote cultural exchanges, special projects, collaborations with other institutions and organizations, etc. . .
The Booktrailer Film Festival invites all of its participants to share their booktrailers online, through the most appropriate channels, only after the awards ceremony and their upload to the site for public viewing.
Responsibility for any property rights violation through the use of images, sounds, or videos is the responsibility of the Booktrailer authors.
The Court of Brescia is responsible for any dispute.
CONTACTS
From all Countries: info@booktrailerfilmfestival.eu
The Headmaster
Ms. Melania Stracquadaino
Scientific manager
Ms. Laura Forcella Iascone
