Frame of Mind

Our Frame of Mind short film competition aims to improve mental health awareness and remove the stigma associated with mental health difficulties.

Lights, camera, ACTION!

In this competition, we invite you to use film as a creative way to challenge mental health stigma or show the importance of positive mental health.

Lights, camera, ACTION!

Frame of Mind is open to secondary schools and general amateur filmmakers to submit a short film, up to three minutes long, which shares affirming mental health messages or tackles misconceptions – and there’s more! This year, we have a brand new category for secondary schools to create TikToks which capture the ways students are minding their mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak and restrictions.

Your short films or TikToks can be based on your personal experience or something that you want to highlight as a positive message about mental health.

With everyone’s safety in mind, we’re encouraging you to make your entries in line with public health guidance and government restrictions: from filming people remotely or showing only one contributor on screen to using animation or simple stop motion, we’re welcoming all the innovative ways you want to make your creations.

This competition isn’t about using expensive equipment either. You can use any type of camera you feel comfortable with, and there are lots of free-to-use video editing programmes available to help you get the finished version you’re happy with.

2020/21 competition

With close to 100 entries to the 2020/21 competition, we held a virtual awards ceremony on 24 February to announce our winners, who each receive a €1,000 prize, while one runner-up in each category also receives €500.

In our inaugural Secondary School | TikTok category, John the Baptist Community School's Let's Talk about Mental Health took the top prize with Salesian Secondary School's Tips to Get Through Lockdown coming in as the runner-up. First place in the Secondary School | Short Film category was St Louis Secondary School for Hidden Struggles, while the runner-up prize was secured by John the Baptist Community School with Mind Your Mind. Meanwhile, the top prize in the General category went to the Lynch family for their film The Run, with Rachel Gregan awarded runner-up for Positive Mental Health.