AMV Contest

AMV Contest General Information

Anime Music Videos (AMVs) submitted for competition must be your OWN work and must be an ORIGINAL work. AMVs which are submitted can be entered into one of the following seven categories:

  • Comedy/Parody
  • Action
  • Drama
  • Effects
  • Originality
  • Worst AMV (see below for details)
  • Mature (see below for details)

AMVs may not be shorter than 1 minute and should not be longer than 5 minutes.

Participants may enter a maximum of two video entries total (one video entry per video category).

The majority of the video footage must be from anime (Japanese animation) or from Japanese video games (e.g. Final Fantasy XII). Live action or other sorts of animation footage are acceptable provided that they are not a dominant part of the video.

Music must be used as the main soundtrack and may be from any genre and in any language. There should be no subtitles in the AMV unless it is an important element of the music video or if they are karaoke song lyrics.

AMV judges will select a winner from each category. All entries from each category will be screened at the "AMV Contest Screening". During the screening, the audience will choose through secret ballot the winner of the “People’s Choice” award for best AMV.

Special prizes will be presented to all category winners at the end of the AMV Contest Screening. Prizes will also be presented to the runner-ups from each category. (NOTE: the participant must be present at the end of the "AMV Contest Screening" to receive any special prizes)

Worst AMV and Mature Categories

For the "Worst AMV" category, you must submit something that will literally make us turn it off in just a few seconds into it; it HAS to be that bad. NOTE: the AMV must still respect the general rules.

For the "Mature" category, AMVs that contain adult content such as hentai, ecchi, explicit sexuality, full frontal nudity, as well as extreme or excessive violence and gore will be accepted.

Neither of the entries for these categories will be screened during the "AMV Contest Screening" due to content guidelines (see below for details), however they will still both receive awards at the "AMV Contest Screening".

Submission Rules

Please send all contest submission to the AMV Contest Director - amvcontest@otakuthon.com

We will be accepting submissions via e-mail only. Do NOT send CDs or DVDs via snail mail.

All AMVs for the contest must be submitted by Friday July 3, 2009. If your AMV is submitted after this date, it will not be considered for the contest.

When submitting your AMVs, please provide the following:

  • Your name
  • In the subject line, type “AMV Contest 2009 Submission”
  • E-mail address and other contact info
  • Title of your music video
  • Category in which you would like the AMV entered (select one, see table above)
  • A short description of the video (maximum 50 words)
  • Source of video footage used (i.e. series, movies, etc.)
  • Source of music or audio soundtrack used
  • A link to download your AMV

When submitting for the AMV Contest, you enter a video submission into only ONE category for judging. Maximum two video submissions per participant, maximum one video per category.

Creators may submit their videos with their submission by:

  • Providing a link for direct download via web (http) or FTP.
  • Providing a BitTorrent metafile or link where the file can be downloaded (if the torrent is seedless or cannot be downloaded, your entry will be disqualified).
  • Providing a link to the file being hosted on a free upload service as MegaUpload.com.
  • Providing a link to the AMV on AnimeMusicVideos.org.

The following are a list of "DON'Ts" which will disqualify your submission:

  • Don't send YouTube or similar video streaming site links.
  • Don't send AMVs which you did not create.
  • Don't send IRC addresses with instructions for DCC downloads.
  • Don't send the actual AMV file as an attachment in the e-mail.
  • Don't send any submissions via “snail” mail.

Content Guidelines

Videos that contain scenes of graphic violence and/or sexuality, eroticism, ecchi, horror and full frontal nudity will not be shown before 8 PM. Any videos that contain hentai, explicit sexuality or other pornographic material, as well as extreme or excessive violence and gore will not be screened before 11PM.

Coarse language, including music lyrics, within the AMVs must be acceptable of what can be heard on public radio, prime time television, or any film that is rated PG-13.

All videos will be pre-screened by the Otakuthon staff. Otakuthon reserves the right to accept or reject any video based on the prescribed criteria or any other reason.

Format

Please note the following guidelines with respect to video format:

  • All videos must be playable on a PC with the latest Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) installed.
  • Files for competition should be AVI or MPG format compressed using DivX or xVid video compression and MP3 audio compression.
  • DO NOT send videos in Realplayer or Quicktime format.

Note

  • Otakuthon reserves the right to use any submitted AMVs for promotional purposes during and after the convention.
  • Otakuthon does not guarantee that any AMV submitted will be screened. The convention reserves the right whether or not to screen an AMV for any reason.

For any questions about the contest, please e-mail the AMV Contest director at amvcontest@otakuthon.com.