meet the shaff jury
At ShAFF we have a permanent panel of judges who work on the festival every year. As the festival grows and develops, so the panel grows with it. By having the same judges each year we feel that there is consistency, and peer feedback ensures that the judging process and criteria do not stagnate. We also employ a state of the art web-based voting app which not only enables the judges to score the films as they watch them, but allows them the opportunity to tag films with emotions, descriptors and other values. A week or so before the festival the team meets to decide on the award winners (gold, silver and bronze). The strongest films in each category are shortlisted based on their scores, with the final decisions being collaboratively made by the judges. The adventure film-making world is a relatively small one, so should a judge have a vested interest in any given film, he or she will not take part in the final stage of the process for any award that that film is shortlisted for.
MATT HEASON - CHAIR & FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
From around September Matt spends the long winter evenings watching the 350+ films that we consider for the festival each year including submissions from film makers as well as sourcing films. He then passes them on to Nik Cook for a second opinion before spending an agonising couple of weeks in December juggling the final selection of around 100 films into a programme in time for publication in the New Year.
Originally a climber, he's branched out into running and cycling and helps organise the annual Grindleford Goat Sportive in September. Follow Matt @HeasonEvents.
Nik Cook - SENIOR JUDGE
Nik is a competitive runner and cyclist. He is also a freelance writer specialising in health/fitness & adventure sports/travel. Nik's a regular contributor to numerous specialist magazines including 220 Triathlon, Cycling Plus, Outdoor Fitness Trek & Mountain and also provides content for British Cycling's Insight Zone.
He's also written for national newspapers including The Times, The Financial Times & The Daily Mail but he is most proud of being Derbyshire Life magazine's occasional Beer Correspondent. Find our more about Nik on his website.
Claire Carter
Claire is Kendal Mountain Festival's Film Officer. Coming on board with ShAFF last year means she watches films all year round. She is a writer and poet (she apologises in advance), organises arty events for climbers in Sheffield and is an enthusiastic climber and runner.
She studied digital film at the New York Film Academy before concluding its a very complicated way of getting your point across, so has huge respect for adventure filmmakers, and their ability to keep their kit dry. You can follow Claire on Twitter and Tumblr.
ZENA TOSCANI
When she’s not climbing or planning her next adventure, Zena spends her days working as the Deputy Editor on filmmaking magazine Pro Moviemaker, writing features and testing out the latest gear on action sports shorts and documentaries.
Zena's particular remit on the panel will be to judge the films on their technical merit and production values.
Follow Zena on Twitter @Zena_t and @promoviemaker
PAUL HODGSON
Bringing Sheffield producer and DJ Paul Hodgson (aka Grievous Angel) on board fulfils a long-time wish of Matt's to highlight the film soundtracks and all the musicians whose creative energy makes such a huge contribution to the success of a film.
In addition to judging the soundtracks, Paul will be pulling together a #ShAFF2015 playlist of the best tunes that we'll be playing all weekend in the Showroom bar.
Follow Grievous Angel on Soundcloud and on Twitter @grievousangeluk.
HAYLEY LEVER 
Hayley is Co-Director of Derbyshire Sport. As a mother of three young girls she's passionate about inspiring women to be active and seek adventure.
A keen runner and cyclist she's completed several long-distance events including triathlons and one of the world's toughest marathons, the Swiss MountainMan.
Follow Hayley on Twitter @HayleyLever and follow Derbyshire Sport @DerbysSport
CLAIRE MAXTED
Claire is editor of Trail Running Magazine. She's an avid runner currently training for The Coastal Challenge Costa Rica this February, and also an occasional triathlete, a wild swimmer, and rock climber. This year Claire is concentrating on judging the growing number of running films at this year's festival.
With our strongest ever line-up of running films, there will be plenty to make her sit down for at least an hour everyday!
Follow Trail Running magazine on Twitter @TrailRunningMag and like the Trail Running Facebook page.
ED BIRCH
Ed Birch is a filmmaker who runs a production company out of Sheffield called Salt Street Productions. He started his career in adventure films from his first entries into ShAFF and has since not stopped growing.
David Hanney
David is from Yorkshire and now lives in Peak with his wife and son. He worked in Sheffield for years and is an all round outdoors person whether it be mountain biking, hill walking, camping, running none of which he does very well. He’s worked in the outdoor industry and is one of the co-owners of Alpkit and SteepEdge
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