Since 2003, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has been awarding filmmakers with the festival prize for excellent achievement in showing human rights in film.
In 2006 the Board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights decided to name this prize with the name of Marek Nowicki (1947 – 2003), cofounder and for many years the President of the Foundation, cofunder of the Helsinki Committee in Poland.

In this year's feature-length documentary competition for the 2021 WATCH DOCS Award, we present ten films selected from a few thousand submissions. Films from five continents, made in the last two years, appreciated at the world's largest film festivals. 

For the first time, eight documentaries that combine human rights with ecological sensitivity will compete for the Green Dog Award. From sophisticated artistic experiments to portraits of activists fighting for the climate on the streets. Judicial battles with corporations, climate refugees and a new look at nature.

This year's WATCH DOCS Audience Award will go to one of the films presented in the Main Competition and the Green Competition. Votes can be cast in ballot boxes after the screenings.