Updated January 2023
Click here for a printable copy of the Competition Rules
- A primary aim of Society is to encourage and facilitate the making of amateur films. In order to foster this objective, competitions are staged regularly throughout the year, enabling participants to present their work in a friendly and competitive spirit, and promoting the advancement and improvement of video-making in the community.
- A number of competitions are held at regular intervals during the year, with trophy titles, themes and conditions as detailed in the list of events displayed on the clubroom notice board. All subscribing members of the Society are invited to compete for the awards and trophies detailed there.
- Videos must not contain any material that might infringe copyright if they are to be uploaded to the internet. You may use such material to watch at our club. However, if your movie contains any video or music that is copyrighted material, it will not be uploaded to any website.
- All footage used by members in their films should not be more than 2 years old. Unless you need a bit of footage that is much older as part of your current story.
- Videos longer than 20 minutes will only be shown if there is space in the competition time slot. Members in attendance may make a majority decision to a one-off exception to this rule after considering the impact on the item in the next time slot.
- Videos must contain no less than 85% of the entrant’s creation. Put another way no more than 15% is taken from other sources or downloaded from the internet. This rule does not apply to the footage supplied for the editing competitions. However, if you do use video or music that’s copyrighted, it will not be put on our website or any other website.
- Individual entrants may receive assistance from one other person during the shooting and/or editing of their video. To be eligible for the ELF Shield (a competition for groups of filmmakers) three or more persons must be involved in each production submitted.
- Entries must be on the official form, which is available from the box adjacent to the clubroom noticeboard or can be entered via the website. Entries should contain details of the running time and presentation format, as well as a brief synopsis of the work. The latest time for acceptance of entry forms and videos is 7:45 pm on the evening of the competition. Entries submitted after this deadline may be rejected.
- Online entries must be received no later than 17:00 on the night of the competition. This includes entry forms and/or film uploads. Any received after that time will not reach the competition.
- The competition will be judged by audience vote to select the winner and runner-up. In the event of a tie (i.e. equal numbers of both first- and second-place votes being cast for the top two entrants), the trophy will be awarded jointly and held by each winner for a period of six months.
- The final competition in the calendar year is held to select the society’s Movie of the Year. All of the films shown in the preceding competitions taking place in that year will be eligible for entry. The overall winner will receive the Broussa Trophy, and the Perkins Cup will be awarded to the runner-up. The judging of this competition will be conducted by an external panel of at least two persons. Because of the potentially large number of submissions, entry forms for this competition must be handed to the Competitions Secretary at least fourteen days before the competition date, and all video media submitted seven days in advance.
- The trophies awarded to the recipients will be held by them for twelve months. They must be returned in good condition at least fourteen days before the next presentation ceremony; any damage or loss is to be rectified at the expense of the award holder.
- Competition winners and runners-up are requested to supply a copy of their video (on disc/tape/flash drive/media card) for the Society’s library. Copyright will remain with the author(s) of the work. However, with the owner’s permission, such videos may be chosen for re-showing in other club programmes from time to time; at outside events to other audiences as part of the Society’s charitable activities; or entered in external competitions organised by amateur video-making societies or institutions.
