The Award Ceremony for the 6th Edition of PRISM UBD Short Film Festival took place in Lecture Hall 2 UTH, UBD campus, on Thursday 7h December, 2023.

The theme for the festival this year is "Crisis and Opportunity” and there were more than 50 submissions received from students from local and ASEAN institutions. The participating institutions whose works made to the final competitions include Mahakarya Institute of the Arts Asia, Politeknik Brunei, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali, as well as three higher institutions from Thailand: Bangkok University, Srinakharinwirot University, and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. As in previous editions, Dr Yong Liu from Design and Creative Industries (DCI) and Mayyer Ling from English Studies co-organised this year’s festival.

There were six award categories up for grabs in the 6th Edition PRISM: Best Animated Short Film Award, Best Documentary Short Film Award, Best Experimental Short Film Award, Best Fiction Short Film Award, Best Social Media Content Award (with a theme in mental health), and People’s Choice Award. Winners of the first five categories were decided by a panel of local media professionals and an international juror from University of Transilvania in Brasov, while the People’s Choice Award was selected by the viewers’ online voting on Progresif Media. The total number of votes received for People's Choice Award this year was 1549, which was over 200 votes more than the total number received last year, in just under two weeks through the Progresif Media platforms.

The winners for all the five competition categories were:

• Jungle (Mahakarya Institute of the Arts Asia, Brunei) won the Best Animation Short Film Award;
• Wonder Kids (Politeknik Brunei) won the Best Documentary Short Film Award;
• Aimagination (Bangkok University and Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand) won the Best Experimental Short Film Award;
• I Am an Iron (Universiti Brunei Darussalam) won the Best Social Media Content Award (theme on mental health);
• Watch Over Me (King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand) won the Best Fiction Short Film Award.

During the feedback session, the Jury Chair Mr A'aqiil Ahmad, the producer of Filterworks Productions, expressed his appreciation for the storytelling abilities of student filmmakers reflected in the works that made to the finals. He also gave a firm reminder of the need to be mindful of character developments while engaging with creative expressions of ideas and techniques in filmmaking.

Mr Zainul Ariffin Junaidi, Media Operations at Progresif Media also added that soundtrack and voiceovers are crucial components that can potentially add to the immersive experience of the audience. Meanwhile, Mr Amali Hj Roslin, Senior Producer at Radio Television Brunei (RTB) emphasised the need to create contents that have meaningful impacts to the audience.

Also present at the Award Ceremony was Dr Kathrina Hj Md Daud, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Associate Professor Dr Debbie Ho, the Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at FASS Faculty, Dr Chester Keasberry, the Programme Leader of the Design and Creative Industries (DCI) Programme.