Falling on Deaf Ears by Luca Farquhar, of Dunedin, Libby Francis, of Naseby and Angel Witehira-Gaffey, of Dunedin, with the help of editors Tina Hughes and Josje Lelijveld, both of Dunedin, won the prize at the national competition in Wellington on Saturday.
The team were met with a sign-language round of applause by a large crowd of friends and family when they arrived at Dunedin Airport with a trophy last night.
Editor Tina Hughes said the children decided to base the film on the telling of different stories about being young and deaf.
"Both of us as adults are deaf and Luca is fully verbal, Libby fully uses sign language and Angel is verbal and uses sign language so, just like hearing people, deaf people all have different experiences, too."
Ms Hughes played a person in the film who did not want to make an effort to understand sign language.
All of the team said they had met people like that in real life.Editor Josje Lelijveld said the team began production in May and "many hours" had gone into making sure it would stand up against the other teams.
About seven teams entered the festival, including adults.
The festival also provided an important opportunity for the youths to meet other deaf people, she said.
"It helps them form their identity and interact with others in sign language.
"It is all about letting people know they are not alone."
The children took turns holding the trophy in the airport and all proudly wore T-shirts from the competition.
The team won a video camera which they planned to use to make another film to submit to the biennial festival.
