The Social Impact Media Awards is an annual international documentary and educational impact media competition, honoring members in the independent film and global humanitarian industry. Our objective is to champion and promote the stories of independent filmmakers, activists and grassroots change-makers that too often remain overlooked, and to provide a springboard for creative media that exemplifies excellence in its potential to inspire change.

Entertainment Weekly looks at 12 Documentaries That Changed the World. A dozen nonfiction films with real world impact -- helping free a man (''The Thin Blue Line''), energizing debate on climate change (''An Inconvenient Truth''), altering diets (''Super Size Me''), and more