Anime Punch! 2008 AMV Contest Rules & Guidelines
(Everything within subject to change without notice.)

Since this is Anime Punch, don't expect to get a catagorical award such as "Best Comedy" or what not. We may give out such awards, we may not. We've never been ones to quantify art though, and we see AMV's as just that; an artform. There will be awards, but they most likely will not be in the form of "1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.", but rather custom awards made to highlight especially well done or impressive videos. So while you probably won't get a "Best Comedy" award, you may get a "Most Funny".

The Contests

Because we love you all so much, we're giving you not one, but two contests! Which you enter depends on the content in your AMV and which category you want to place your AMV in. The general contest must be rated at PG-13ish; anything over will be entered into the late-night mature contest.

The Categories

General Contest

Comedy/Parody/Trailer - If your AMV's goal is to make people laugh, or if you're reworking a trailer, chances are it belongs in this category.

Drama/Sentimental/Romantic - These AMVs have a tendency to make fangirls cry. If you're AMV is especially sad, or even simply nostalgic to the plot of an anime, it probably belongs here.

Action/Adventure - Guns, swords, speed, fights, intensity. This category is for all the adrenaline-based AMVs of the world.

Upbeat/Dance - These AMVs should have the audience out of their seat and dancing to the groove.

Mature Contest

Gore/Horror/Violence - Scary and/or destructive. Yum.

Erotic - Perverts rejoice! Finally a venue for you to showcase your mastery of the rhythm of love. Or something.

Adult Comedy/Parody/Trailer - Your AMV funny, but not suitable for the general comedy contest? Never fear, it goes here.

Other Awards

Other awards will be based on merit: "Best of Show" awards and other honorary awards such as "Best Use of Erotic Footage in a Non-Erotic AMV," "Best Use of Video Game Footage," "Most Original," etc.—whatever strikes our fancy.

Technical Stuff

We will try to accept as many AMVs as possible, no matter what strange format they come in. However, if we can't play it back, it won't get shown. It would be in good discretion to stick to common codecs and specifications. Just plain MPEG is probably your best bet to ensure that your AMV will be shown. Anything submitted in Quicktime or Shockwave Flash is almost guaranteed not to be shown. Use common sense, and if you link us to YouTube we'll eat your fucking face.

We will be displaying these AMVs through a projector using the monitor output of a computer. Please keep this in mind when deciding on your frame rates and resolution; try to stick to standards to avoid having your AMV look like crap on the big screen.

Please submit good quality AMVs; low-quality submissions will be among the first to be removed due to time constraints. It should be noted that submitting an AMV is no guarantee that we'll show it.

Some Restrictions Apply

So what defines an AMV? The majority of your footage should be set to Japanese animation (although you'll be ridiculed more for live-action footage than for non-Japanese animation). The vast majority of your footage should be set to music (with the exception of parody AMVs, in which the audio can be from anything). Overly long and pointless introductions and lead-outs are not looked upon kindly. We reserve the right to not show anything that we decide isn't worth showing. Please use common sense to avoid having your AMV cut from the competition.

You might want to think about removing all logos and subtitles from your footage. We'll still accept them, but logos are distracting and will hurt your chances of receiving an award. Subtitles are also distracting, although using them artistically (and even creating your own) is fine.

The maximum length for any AMV is 10 minutes, including intros and lead-outs. If we run out of time, longer AMVs will be among the first cut.

Your work must be your work. We cannot accept anonymous submissions or submissions by proxy. (You also cannot appoint a proxy to accept an award for you at the convention. If you are unable to attend you cannot win an award.) You may create a pseudonym if you'd like to keep your identity a secret.

You may submit as many AMVs as you want, provided that they were authored within the last year. If we run out of time, we will cut multiple AMVs by the same creator, keeping what we feel to be the best work.

So how do I submit, anyway?

Submitting an AMV is simple. Fill out the submission form, burn your AMV to a disk, label your disk with your name and the title of your AMV, and send it all to:

Anime Punch! AMV Contest
PO Box 3132
Columbus, OH 43210

AMV Submission Form

Send your submission by standard mail. Don't complicate the process with things that require a signature. We may not get it in time.

Entries must be received by April 1, 2008. Keyword on RECEIVED. Be sure to account for shipping time. Entries received after the deadline cannot be accepted.

All submissions received become the property of Anime Punch and will not be returned. Don't send in your only copy of your AMV. If you submit, you agree that your AMV will be shown at the con, and copies of it will probably be made and distributed as we see fit.

Before submitting your AMV, double-check your disk to make sure it burned properly.

Do not author your AMV to a DVD or VCD. Just send the actual file on a CD or DVD. If it doesn't fit on a CD, you might want to consider cutting back on the quality, just a bit.

We only accept digital submissions. We may have a dusty tape player somewhere, but it'd probably just eat your AMV. Besides, VHS quality just sucks.

Submissions received without the submission form will not be accepted.

Fill in the category on your submission form that bests represents your AMV. We reserve the right to change which category your AMV ends up in, however we'll only do that when absolutely necessary.

Make sure to use a valid email address when filling out your submission form. If we need to contact you for any reason, we'll do it through email.

The Judging

All entries will be screened and judged prior to the convention and entrants may only win one Category Award. However, they are still eligible for any of our various other honorary and arbitrary awards awards: if it impresses us, we'll at least give it a shout-out.

We reserve the right to create categories or add awards for AMVs that we think deserve them. We may also remove a category if we don't get enough submissions for it. In this case, the AMV will be placed into the next-best category that it fits into.

Anime Punch can and WILL disqualify any AMV that does not follow the rules and guidelines. We'll do our best to try and get your AMV in the contest, but if we can't, we can't. Follow the rules to make sure we can.

All decisions and judgments are final. Don't come up after the competition and say you deserved an award that you didn't get for any reason. We'll just laugh at you.

We reserve the right to show your AMV at any point during the convention, even outside of the AMV competition.

Final Word

We are the law. Don't fight the law because the law will win.

If you have any questions, please contact our AMV coordinator. Thanks for submitting, and good luck!