Welcome to the ’25-’26 season of the Maine STEM Film Challenge!
We’re happy to announce the start of the 5th Annual Maine STEM Film Challenge!
The Maine STEM Film Challenge (MSFC) is a fall & winter competition for K-12, college, and adult participants to put together STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) based videos on a wide variety of topics that are then reviewed, shared, and judged by professionals within the STEM arena.
Getting started:
Read the “2025 Introduction to Maine STEM Film Challenge” slideshow
Get acquainted with the challenge with this high-level overview of the 2025-2026 challenge.
Read the “2025 Maine STEM Film Challenge Rules” document
The main document for the film challenge. This is a guide for structuring teams, creating films, and answers questions about the flow of the season.
Fill out the “2025 Maine STEM Film Challenge Interest Form” to stay in the loop
Filling out this form will get you on the email list for the challenge. This will include periodic deadline reminders, as well as updates for any new resources/content associated with the challenge.
Changes this year:
Extended Season Timeline
The timeline for the challenge has changed, and now extends into the spring semester. Please note the important dates:
September 22nd, 2025 – Rules release
February 25th, 2026 – Registration deadline
February 27th, 2026 – Final film submissions due
March 13th, 2026 – Film judging complete
March 20th, 2026 – Division finalists & non-divisions awards announced
New Awards
Content & Research Excellence Award
Award for excelling in the “Content” category. This award is for a film that excels in the research & narrative portion of the film-creating process.
Inclusivity Award
Award for films that addressed & overcame language barriers, and/or highlighted inclusivity in other areas. Examples include: incorporating diverse perspectives in the submitted film, making content appropriate for general audiences, and/or focusing on underrepresented stories or viewpoints.
What is STEM?
Q: What are the STEM Fields that I could do a film about? A: The field has No Limits!
Well, almost. It has to be related to STEM and it can’t be a skit or an extension of a local science project you did (like growing beans in class). But you can do a film on the way beans germinate, sprout, and grow. Facts folks, facts.
To remind everyone, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In our case, we are also asking you to incorporate ART, so you may see the acronym STEAM as well.
Here are a FEW of the possible variations available. PLEASE, films must be generic enough that your average youth or adult can understand what you are talking about. It is on YOU to provide the media that can transition people to a point of awareness. Also we expect grade appropriate videos and skill demonstration, so a 2nd grade team won’t be judged the same as a college team. Same general idea, but skill assessment will be different.
“Our Friend the Beaver” may be exactly as correct as “Understanding the Impact of the American Beaver on Ecological Development of Wildlife Parks” Depending on your age and intent.
There is also a LOT of overlap. A person studying genetically modified corn is likely studying agriculture, chemistry, biology, microbiology, molecular physics, and who knows what else.
Resources
DISCLAIMER:
None of these resources have been checked, confirmed, etc. Check them out for yourselves. These were mostly the result of Googling the web and reporting back the results. We use Pinnacle Studio Ultimate from Corel, but that is a paid for software package. If you know of some great resources, email msfc@maine.edu and put “MSFC Resources” in the subject line.
NOTE: Any links are just recommendations from resources we found online, unless they say they are made by us.