The Ecumenical Jury at SCHLiNGEL 2023 awarded its Prize to "Juniors" by Hugo P. Thomas (France 2022), which also won the prize of the Sächsische Landesmedienanstalt - the main prize of the festival - as well as the prize of the ECFA (European Children's Film Association). The Ecumenical Jury also awarded a Special Mention to "The Gift" (Belek) by Dalmira Tilepbergen (Kyrgyzstan 2023). The City of Chemnitz Award went to "Morgen irgendwo am Meer" (Tomorrow Somewhere by the Sea) by Patrick Büchting (Germany 2023), the European Children's Film Award to "Totem" by Sander Burger (Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany 2022). The Jury of International Film Critics (Fipresci) awarded "Echo to Delta" by Patrick Boivin (Canada 2023).
On 23 September, the International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences 2023 was ceremonially opened at the Chemnitz Opera House. The festival showed 171 short and long animated and feature films from 54 countries in several programme series. The Ecumenical Jury chooses its winner from the three competition sections for children, juniors and youth, in which long feature films are on the programme.