Midlands Movies Awards 2026 jury panel

midlandsmovies • October 31, 2025

Midlands Movies Awards 2026 jury panel


Every season the nominations and eventual winners are chosen by an experienced jury made up of a wide-range of industry experts.  Previous jury panel members include Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Marvel's Cpt. America), Parminder Nagra (Bend It Like Beckham, DI Ray), Shane Meadows (This Is England), Debbie Isitt (BAFTA-award winning director), Steve Oram (actor/writer), Richard Billingham (Turner prize nominee & director of Ray & Liz), James Luxford (Radio Times film critic), Becky Adams (CEO Screen Northants), Dharmesh Rajput (Head of Birmingham Indian Film Festival) and Pin Cushion director Deborah Haywood.



Special Guest Jury Member 2026

ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON!

Grant Black (Rural Media Creative Director & Deputy CEO) - Grant is an Executive Producer and Story Consultant who's passionate about creating youth-led and social impact content whilst helping to discover and develop new filmmaking talent. He started out as a staff writer for the BBC and has gone on to write and produce for shows across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and SKY. As Creative Director for Rural Media and Rural Studios, Grant has exec produced over 100 short films and oversees the company's broadcast, film, digital and audio slate. His work has been recognised by the Royal Television Society, winning awards for 'Innovation in Cross Platform', 'Excellence in Digital Content' and 'Diversity'.


More jury panel member announced soon...!

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