Elevate Africa Dangles $25,000 Grants, Launches 2026 Fashion Film Contest To Revive Indigenous Textiles 

Elevate Africa has announced the commencement of applications for the 2026 edition of the Threads of Africa Fashion Film Prize, a pan-African initiative aimed at preserving and promoting endangered African textiles, garments and traditional fashion techniques through storytelling and film.

The organisation said the competition seeks to encourage creatives across Africa and the diaspora to document and reimagine forgotten aspects of the continent’s textile heritage at a time when African fashion is gaining increasing global recognition while offering $25,000 grants for winners, among other benefits.

According to the organisers, the programme was anchored on the theme, “Stories of Rebirth,” and was designed to showcase African fashion as a vehicle for cultural diplomacy, economic transformation and sustainable industry development.

The competition is open to fashion designers, filmmakers, students and creative teams of African descent.

Participants are expected to submit a three to five-minute fashion micro-film highlighting an endangered or forgotten African textile, garment or technique. Entries are also required to feature documentary-style storytelling, visual documentation of the creative process and a compelling case for the cultural and economic revival of the featured heritage element.

Speaking on the initiative, Media Relations Manager, Chinomso Momoh, quoted the Project Lead, Princess-Iman Sado, as saying that the programme goes beyond a competition and represents a movement to reclaim African narratives and revive indigenous traditions through creativity and collaboration.

Momoh quoted Sado as saying: “Threads of Africa Fashion Film Prize is more than a competition; it is a movement to reclaim our narratives and revive our traditions. It is our way of weaving a stronger and better connected Africa.”

The organisation specifically disclosed that up to $25,000 in non-dilutive grants would be awarded to winners, alongside mentorship opportunities and participation in a dedicated showcase at Elevate Africa’s 2026 Convening in Ghana.