Volunteer Film and Art Judges for Youth Mental Health Nonprofit

Youth Creating Change is a California-based nonprofit (501 c3) dedicated to placing young people’s voices and creativity at the center of suicide prevention and mental health programming. Our mission is to educate young people about mental health, suicide prevention, and other critical health and social justice issues through the creation of art and film projects; to facilitate healing and belonging through creative expression; and to support schools and communities in creating safe spaces where young people feel seen, heard, and supported in reaching out for help through curriculums, trainings, and awareness activities.

Two of our signature programs – our Annual Film Contest and Hope & Justice – need volunteer judges to evaluate youth-created submissions centered on suicide prevention, mental health, and social justice.

All Youth Creating Change judging is completed remotely online and allows judges to participate flexibly at the time that works best for them. While the exact time required to evaluate submissions varies throughout the year, most judging periods require a time commitment of approximately 2 hours or less.

For our Annual Film Contest, judging takes place annually each March. For this contest, judges review and score up to 15 short PSAs. Participation in the program prepares youth to recognize signs of distress and seek help for themselves or a friend while inviting them to share their own unique message about suicide prevention and mental health with their peers. PSAs created for the contest are also used to raise awareness as part of media campaigns and outreach across California.

For Hope & Justice, judging occurs intermittently throughout the school year (typically the second week of each month). Youth across the state are invited to express their thoughts and feelings around critical mental health topics, as well as social justice and current events through the creation of visual art, written works, short films, audio PSAs, original music, and more. Participants can submit entries to the theme of “Hope,” “Justice,” or in response to an educational monthly prompt centered on mental health, healthy coping mechanisms, and available support resources.

Please submit our judge sign-up form to be added to our list of volunteers and begin receiving communications about upcoming judging opportunities: YouthCreatingChange.Org/Become-a-Judge. Forms are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year, and you will receive a confirmation email with additional details once your form has been reviewed and approved by Youth Creating Change (depending on staff availability, this process may take several weeks).

Those interested in judging are also welcome to reach out to Dori@YouthCreatingChange.Org with any questions.