The VES Student Award has additional Rules and Procedures due to the nature of the award. Please read the below section carefully before submitting.

• Students must have been registered in and attending the school between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.
• Every student entrant must send a copy of a valid and dated student I.D. card or proof of registration along with the entry form for each student being entered
• Entries must be submitted personally by the student(s) who created the Work to Be Considered or by an official Festival/Awards Office of the school. Submission forms must be signed by a submitting student in either case. If the school submits the work, they must include contact information for the students
• The VES requests that schools nominate up to four students in each submission
• Submission forms must also be co-signed by a teacher or educational adviser under whose guidance the project was created to certify that the project was completed during the qualifying period.
• Entries submitted on behalf of students by any other representatives, administrators, agents, or faculty members other than the school’s official Festivals/Awards Office will not be accepted
• All qualifying student entries will first be submitted to Autodesk for preliminary judging. The fifteen top entries selected by Autodesk will then be voted on by the VES Nomination Event judges for selection of the final four nominees
• By entering these awards you are agreeing that AUTODESK has the right to play the submitted Student Award material, without charge, on its website or a website of its designation for the purposes of promotion
• The VES shall have the unrestricted but non-exclusive right to exhibit the submitted Student Award material at any venue and in any media, including but not limited to, websites, television, visual effects anthologies and other activities in connection with the legitimate business of the VES

Recognized School

The VES recognizes all schools around the world that are accredited or otherwise endorsed by an official educational body. Additionally, the VES recognizes schools that specialize in the teaching of film, television and visual effects. The word “school” is used here to mean any organized institution that has a faculty, teaching facilities, and a program of learning that results in graduation that is recognized by other learning institutions or the earning of certificates attesting to completion of one or more courses.

If you have a question about your school’s eligibility please contact the VES as soon as possible.

Contact Person Availability

Student entrants must provide the name, phone number and email address of an individual who can be contacted during the Christmas-New Year break who is authorized to act in behalf of the entrant(s) in case of problems. It is especially important for entrants to have access to editing and/or dubbing facilities in case a submission needs to be corrected. Failure to do so may result in disqualification of the entry.

Acceptance of Student Award

One student from the winning entry will be invited to attend the Awards Gala at the expense of the VES. Covered expenses include airfare to and from Los Angeles, transportation to and from the airport to a hotel of the VES’ choosing, two nights hotel accommodations, and two days per diem of $75. All other expenses are the responsibility of the student.

Completion Dates:

October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024

Qualifying Projects

Photoreal (per Definition G) or Animated (per Definition A) Student Projects (per Definition K).

Additional Information for Special Awards

Titles, motion graphics and logos are not eligible in any General category.

Submissions Open: 

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Submission Deadline:

Thursday, October 31, 2024, 11:59PM PST

NOTE: Unavailability of personnel to prepare submission materials in time to meet the entry deadline is not a valid reason to be granted a deadline extension.

23rd ANNUAL VES AWARDS TIMETABLE

(Dates subject to change)

All Submissions may only be made through this VES Awards website by following the directions below.

• Designate ONE person to be your primary “go to” person for all VES Awards matters. This person is the official Submitter. They must sign the Submission Form.
• The submission form will be available starting on or about September 15, 2024 on this site.
• Click on “Submit an Entry” below.
• After clicking “Submit an Entry”, click on “Create New Submission.” Instructions will take you through the complete registration and submission process and will guide you on how to prepare your materials for upload.
• Give each entry a distinct project title (preferably the project’s main title) and entry name on both the entry form and on the slate (e.g., Main Title of Project: Avengers; Name of Clip: Hulk Smashes Loki).
• When you have completed the Submission Form, click ”Submit”. A unique Submission Number will be automatically issued. At the same time, slates will be automatically generated for your viewing materials.
• One submission per form. Do not combine multiple entries on a single submission form.
• Making a note of the official Submission Number. Do not lose this login information or share it with an unauthorized individual. You will need this information later if you must make changes to your submission.
• Print or Download your completed entry form, have it signed by the appropriate individuals (electronic signatures are acceptable), upload the completed form to the site by the deadline, October 31, 2024.
• Entry fees should be paid by using the online credit card authorization form in the section “Submit an Entry”.
• Use the Submission Number in all correspondence relating to your entry.
• Upload your viewing materials in Submission Format (ProRes LT as specified below), no later than Thursday, October 31, 2024.

Nominees

• The allowable types of nominees and the number of nominees are noted in the special rules of each category. In addition, the special rules of each category specify the valid nominee type(s) which can be assigned to each nominee slot number. Select your nominees carefully. Submitters should consider qualified artists who no longer work at the facility.
• If you find that you need to make an entrant name substitution, go to the original online submission form using the username and password issued at the time of submission. Make the desired name change and click “Submit” to complete the change.
• No substitutions will be allowed after the nomination event.
• If there is valid reason to question the eligibility of an entrant, the VES Awards Committee reserves the right to investigate the situation and take appropriate action. For more information on name substitutions, consult the VES Awards Policies, Section 11, Name changes, substitutions, and challenges.

Submission Forms and Submission Numbers

You must fill out a Submission Form online and obtain a Submission Number to be in the Awards. Complete the form, have it signed (electronic signatures are acceptable), upload the completed form to the site by the deadline, October 31, 2024. List nominees in the order in which they should appear in any announcements or publicity. Make sure the names and email addresses are spelled correctly.

Signatures

Entry forms must be signed by:

• The person submitting the entry (who may or may not be an entrant); and
• The overall project VFX Supervisor (in animated categories, may also be overall project Director or Animation Supervisor); or
• The overall project VFX Producer (in animated categories, should be the Animation Producer).
• In the case of submissions created under the employ of a facility, a member of the facility’s management

The signers acknowledge that all entrants are eligible and agree to follow and be bound by the rules, procedures, and policies of the VES Awards.

In the case of multiple entries from the same submitting organization, instead of signing each individual submission form the overall VFX Supervisor or overall VFX Producer or, in animated categories, the overall Director, Animation Supervisor, or overall Animation Producer (or the equivalent to these job titles) may submit a single signed letter to the Awards Committee covering all of the award submissions they are authorizing. This letter must include each individual Submission Number for which they are signing. To avoid confusion, this letter should be submitted to awards@vesglobal.org at the same time as the entries it is authorizing.

Contact Person

Please assign one contact person for all your entries. This is the individual (the Submitter) to whom the username and password for uploading your electronic submission will be sent.

This contact person must be available to the Awards Committee during vetting (November through early January) to deal with any potentially disqualifying issues that the Awards Committee may uncover during vetting. They should know where to reach everyone named on the submission in case of questions and who can arrange to re-edit a submission if necessary.

Fees

$25 regardless of the number of individuals named on the entry.

Entry Content

Your entry is made of two required parts and an optional third part:

The Work to Be Considered – Required

• The work you are submitting for the judges to view.

Student submissions may choose to submit either a Before and Afters, a written Supplemental Material, or both. Should both be submitted, the written material will not be available for the Nomination Event, but will be available for the final View and Vote should the project be nominated.

The Before & Afters 

• Descriptive information about how the VFX for the project were created.

Supplemental Material – Optional (Not used or available in the Nomination Event)

• A concise written description of how the Work to Be Considered was created.
• The description text may NOT be the transcript of the Before & Afters voice-over; either in its majority or its entirety.
• The entire contents of the supplemental material (text, images, etc.) must be relevant to the category of the submission.

Entrants are responsible for their own quality control. The VES accepts no responsibility for viewing materials that do not play properly, are submitted at the wrong resolution or format, or are of inferior quality (see Submission Format, below). 

Viewing materials (including Before & Afters), supplemental materials, or slates may NOT contain the names of facilities, production company logos, logo bugs, or individuals that worked on the project. Entries containing such material will be required to resubmit without identifying marks or they may be disqualified. 

Work To Be Considered

This is the project material you wish to enter for an award. All Work to Be Considered must be submitted as premiered. Long single shots may be edited down for length by trimming the head or tail of the shot, or lifting one continuous section from the middle. However, you may NOT: 

• Change the order of sequences from how they appeared within the project 
• Change the order of or edit shots (except very long shots as stated above) within a sequence
• Put different contextual material around the Work to Be Considered other than how it was premiered 
• Add fades or dissolves to “smooth” awkward transitions created by cutting down the sequence. However, you may place a few frames of black between segments 
• Use sound other than the original sound track as premiered 
• Add watermarks to any viewing material

You should provide some contextual material surrounding the Work to Be Considered where it is available. “Contextual Material” is the shots (visual effects or otherwise) immediately preceding or following the work you are submitting. This contextual material shows how the Work to Be Considered fits into the scene, sequence, or project. Contextual Material must be short and solely shown to set up the effects being presented. 

Before & Afters

The Before & Afters material must be unique to this entry and tailored to the category you are entering. Where the special (practical) effects played a major role in the project, the Before & Afters should include footage demonstrating this fact. Before & Afters entered in different categories from the same project must be significantly different from one another and must specifically address the shots and category being submitted. Before & Afters must demonstrate how the work was accomplished through one or more of the following:

• Storyboards Animatics and/or previs 
• Raw plates
• Raw elements 
• Work-in-progress (developmental progression of shot) 

In addition: 

• Company logos, (school logos in the case of the Student Award), logo bugs, or facility or individual names identifying who worked on the entry (either visually or audibly referenced) are not permitted. Entries containing such material will be required to resubmit without identifying marks or they may be disqualified. 
• Special Venue entries must include video footage of the project from the perspective of the audience. 
• Real-Time entries should include video footage demonstrating game assets in their native authoring environment. Overlays showcasing hardware and software performance are also welcomed. 
• Entries for Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project, must have a voice-over track explaining how the entry focuses on the cinematography including the contributions of previs, mocap, layout, and lighting.
• You may not use the same Before & Afters clip for two different categories, though limited reuse of individual shots is permissible as long as they fit the intent of the category. 

Your entry may be disqualified if the Before & Afters material contains any of the following: 

• Extraneous material that does not relate directly to the Work to Be Considered Shots
• Sequences that are not shown in the Work to Be Considered except for brief references from external sources, such as YouTube or other films 
• Talking heads explaining the work (voice-over narration is acceptable) 

NOTE: Before & Afters videos are not required to be submitted for Student Award but may be submitted at the option of the submitter. However, student entrants who choose not to submit Before and Afters are required to submit a short written explanation of how the work was created. Do not include the names of the school or of individual students who worked on the project in the written material, or your entry may be disqualified.

Supplemental Material

Submitters may, at their option, provide a concise written description of how the Work to Be Considered was created. Please submit a PDF file of your written material at the time of submission by uploading the PDF by clicking on “Actions>Upload supplemental material” on the Submission Form. PDFs of nominated entries will be posted on the View & Vote website. Do not send printed copies of written supporting material to the VES. 

Guidelines for Supplemental Material:

• Put the Submission Number on every page 
• Keep the number of pages to a minimum 
• Written material may not include the names of individuals or facilities that directly worked on the visual effects. 
• Reprints of magazine or web articles are not allowed 
• Please name the PDF file the same as the Submission Number of your submission (e.g. 01- 9999).

Audio

All sound used in the Work to Be Considered portion of the entry must be the original sync sound as premiered. Entries may be submitted MOS, but they must be clearly labeled as such on the slate. However, the Before & Afters material may have alternate audio, including relevant commentary. Commentary may not include the names of facilities or individuals that did the work, be self congratulatory, or otherwise off-topic.

Slates

• The Slates contain the Submission Number needed for the filename. 
• The Head Slate goes at the beginning of each submission, and the Tail Slate goes at the end of each submission. Tail slates will be automatically generated when you create your submission. If revised materials are submitted, you do not need to update the Slate.

Submitting Viewing Materials

Viewing materials must be submitted in electronic form. We will not accept a submission in physical media form.

Electronic Submissions

When you first made your submission you created a unique username and password to use for electronic material submissions. Use the same username and password for all your submissions. But keep in mind that each individual entry will also be given a unique file name that corresponds to only one specific Submission Number.

Submission Format: 

The submission format is Apple ProRes LT (422) in a QuickTime wrapper (.mov).

• One tool that you can use to create a correct entry is Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve,  the free version available for PC, Mac, and Linux is sufficient.

All viewing material must follow these guidelines:

• 1920x1080p, 23.98fps ProRes LT (422) Video
• Color encoding per Rec709
• Gamma 2.4
• Audio should be stereo, embedded uncompressed PCM 16-bit or 24-bit 44.1/48KHz. Peak audio levels must not exceed -2dBTP referenced to a digital meter. We require using true peak limiting and ATSC A/85 (US) or EBU R128(EU) standard target loudness levels which target -24dB LUFS for dialogue.

No exceptions to these requirements.

Upload Order

The entry must be uploaded in two parts: 

• The Work to Be Considered (the entry) is one upload; and 
• The Before & Afters material is the second upload. 

Use the VES slates on both uploads and follow the upload order below in assembling your submission: 

Do not combine your uploads.  Viewing material deviating from these format specs will not be accepted.

File Naming Conventions

The Submission Number is the number on your SLATE, formatted as XX-XXXX. Please use versioning in the filename on your uploads, starting with v01. If a re-upload is needed, please use the next version number. The Work to Be Considered and Before & Afters may have different version numbers.

Your uploaded submission(s) must be named as follows:

For Part 1: Work to Be Considered 

• Entry-ID_v##.mov (This is the original project material) 

For Part 2: Before & Afters 

• Entry-ID_beforeandafters_v##.mov (This is your Before & Afters file) 

Example:

For Submission ID 02-0003, name your files as follows: 

• Work to Be Considered: 02-0003_v01.mov
• Before & Afters: 02-0003_beforeandafters_v01.mov

For a reupload of the Work to Be Considered:

• Work to Be Considered: 02-0003_v02.mov

Only ONE submission per project is allowed in this category.

Slot 1: open to any significant Student contributor, preferably the VFX Supervisor
Slot 2: open to any significant Student contributor, preferably the VFX Producer
Slot 3: open to any significant Student contributor
Slot 4: open to any significant Student contributor

A maximum of four (4) students most responsible for the overall creative design, supervision, execution, management and delivery of the project may be included.

If a student or team of less than four students created the project, but other students contributed significantly to the visual effects or animation, then it is strongly suggested that the other slots be used to recognize their contributions.

Exceptions to the rules may be requested by petition. The Awards Committee considers all petitions on their merits and may grant them at its sole discretion. Submit petitions by clicking on the “Petition Committee” link on the Submission Form.