IMPACT PITCH

An exclusive opportunity for Jackson Wild Media Award Entrants

Applications are CLOSED for 2026

The Jackson Wild x Earth Alliance Impact Pitch is an initiative supporting filmmakers with powerful stories who are looking to drive positive change.

Applications are now closed for 2026

Created in collaboration with Earth Alliance—a platform powered by Re:wild that champions unbranded, community-led, and coalition-based campaigns—this program seeks to support emerging impact campaigns connected to films that spotlight irreplaceable wild places, threatened species, and the communities working to protect them.

This opportunity is open exclusively to 2026 Jackson Wild Media Awards entrants who are planning an impact campaign around the film that could benefit from support to develop and implement the campaign. This is your chance to pitch a bold, visionary plan with the potential to drive tangible, community-led impact.

Finalists will pitch their campaigns live at the Jackson Wild event in November, and will receive a travel stipend to attend the event. A panel of jurors will select recipients for the top prize of $30,000, the second prize of $15,000 and third place receiving an Earth Alliance amplification package. Finalists will also have the opportunity to have their film amplified on Earth Alliance’s platforms.

Applicants should submit a 1-2 page treatment/story outline and any additional materials (deck, sizzle, etc), plus:

A copy of the budget
Timeline for pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery
Proposed equipment for filming and editing
The film’s impact campaign and/or impact goals

Application (Now closed for 2026):

An application form will be sent to all eligible entrants of the 2026 Jackson Wild Media Awards. This form will invite filmmakers to propose or expand an impact campaign tied to their submitted project.

Questions? email INFO@jacksonwild.org

2025: THE INAUGURAL PITCH

Relive the pitch and meet the finalists who made waves with their projects.

Meet the 2025 Finalists & Winners

Chameleon Corridors (Winner)

In Tanzania’s misty Eastern Arc Mountains, a feared endemic chameleon species becomes the voice of hope when a young girl’s question ignites a reforestation movement that unites hundreds of community members across the fragmented biodiversity hotspot. She asks: “If we could destroy nature, why can’t we repair it?”
Myworld Film Grant, Schoolyard Films, Amberjack Films, AFRISOS
Impact Producer: Simona Nickmanova
Iyo Ang Dagat (The Sea is Yours)

From whale shark tourism to remote marine park patrols and shark fisheries, IYO ANG DAGAT journeys through conflict and hope as communities and researchers ask whether people and sharks can thrive together—and how collaboration might chart a path forward.
Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE)
Impact Producer: Sally Snow
Pantanal

Luciana’s dream of visiting the world’s largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal, turns tragic when she witnesses its worst-ever fire. Deeply affected, she and her friend Heideger set out to uncover the cause – only to reveal a large, decade-spanning crisis.
Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
Qotzuñi: People of the Lake

The Uru communities of Bolivia have lived on Lake Poopó for generations. Faced with its disappearance, they must grapple with what it means to be Qotzuñi, or People of the Lake, when the lake ceases to exist.
A film by Michael Salama and Gastón Zilberman
Impact Producers: Bonnie Abaunza and Kathleen Rodgers
The Book of George

From Brooklyn’s hard urban landscape to the breathtaking Everglades, wildlife photographer George McKenzie Jr. transforms challenges into opportunities. Through his lens, he documents rare species, inspiring children of color to dream big and take on their role in safeguarding the planet’s natural beauty.
A film by Danny Schmidt, Produced by Pure Gold Pictures, in Association with SLOMotion Films. Supported by STIO. Executive Producers Alex & Julie Wallace, Mallory Lykes Dimmitt
Impact Producer: Hayley Nenadal