Prizes

• Prizes for the Shiny Awards are donated by Shiny’s Industry members, for both Brand New & Moving Up categories.

• Prizes are allocated as far as possible according for first choices of the director, though this can’t be promised. After that, prizes are allocated at random, taking into account the location of the prize winner and the prize activity.

• Between 15 and 20 videos are shortlisted and screen at the Awards. Every shortlisted director gets at least one prize.

• Winners get first choice of prizes and extra prizes.

Eligible directors

• There are two entry categories: Brand New directors, open to directors who have never worked with budgets over £€$ 30k, and Moving Up directors, open to directors who have never worked with budgets over £€$ 100k

• Directors can be based anywhere in the world, be of any age and come from any background.

• It's the entrant's responsibility to check eligibility, no refunds! (they take up time and cost us money)

Eligible videos

• Any video under 5 minutes runtime, including: music video; fashion film; brand content; narrative; documentary; TikToks; game-based content.

• Videos must be under 5 minutes, minus credits.

• There are no genre or release date restrictions - videos can be spec work or self-commissioned. They can have been published at any time.

• You can submit trailers -  they’re judged on their own merits, according to the criteria below, rather than judging the film they promote (of course!).

• It's fine to submit unpublished, password-protected videos. They won’t be displayed on the website and if selected, we won’t link to the video until it’s publicly available.

• You can submit as many eligible videos as you like.

• It's the entrant's responsibility to check eligibility, no refunds! (they take up time and cost us money)

Awards judging process - Brand New category

• All entries are initially scored by Shiny, according to the judging criteria below.

• If written reviews have been paid for, the video goes to three Industry supporters for scores and reviews. Most videos are scored and reviewed within 3 weeks or sooner, but it can take up 6 to weeks.

• High scoring entries are added to the Recommended Directors List in the Industry member-only newsletter and member-only part of the website. The submitter is notified when this happens.

• Some videos which aren’t initially selected for the Recommended Directors’ List might still be longlisted, if for instance a different judge has a different view. IE if Industry supporters give very high scores to a video which Shiny did not give a very high score, that video will be added to the longlist for the next awards and considered by a jury panel for the next shortlist.

• The Jury panel is made up of production company, post and services producers amongst Shiny’s Industry members. They discuss & create next Awards' shortlist, which is screened at the Shiny Awards.

Awards judging process - Moving Up category

• Every long-listed entry is debated by the Moving Up jury panel, according to the judging criteria below.

• Moving Up entries are only judged by the Moving Up jury panel.

• Only after the relevant Awards are high scoring entries are added to the Recommended Directors List. Work in the Recommended Directors List is promoted in the Industry member-only newsletter and member-only part of the website. The submitter is notified when this happens.

• To be eligible to join the Moving Up jury as an Industry Supporter, the company must have previously commissioned work from an external production company.

Awards judging process - both categories

• Quotas - shortlists always include at least 70% of work from self-declared under-represented directors.

• Shortlisted directors plus 1 are invited to attend the Awards as guests of Shiny.

• Winners are selected and announced at the Awards, by the Winner judges, variously made up of press, influencers and agency/ brand decision-makers.

• Judging guidelines at all stages are:

Innovation - is this a fresh approach, is it a different kind of story
Storytelling - does it build, does it feel complete
Craft - does it have a clear & consistent aesthetic
Engagement - do you want to recommend it to other people

• It's your responsibility to make sure links and passwords work during the whole period your video is in review - please take care not to lock out judges by changing your settings or submitting inaccurate details. This is your responsibility, no refunds! (they take up time and cost us money)

Recommended Directors’ List & Press Promotion

• Once a video is included in the Recommended Directors List it is promoted on the Industry member-only newsletter and in the member-only part of the website. Listings include directors’ email contact details, instagram and website links (by consent). Moving Up entries use the contact details of the rep/ production company rather than the director’s details if signed.

• Shiny Awards winners are selected by the Winner judges (see above). They’re announced live at the Awards, and subsequently promoted to press (usually featured in Shots and Little Black Book) on Shiny’s main newsletter and across our socials.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policy

• We're committed to practical ways to bring more people from under-represented groups into the industry, and so we support quotas.

• Any video scored highly by judges is longlisted for the Awards screening, regardless of the director's demographic group. We apply diversity filters in the longlist selection and for the Shiny Awards.

• The entry form asks if directors consider themselves under-represented in the industry, according to gender, ethnicity, childhood income, sexual orientation, disability, or any other socio-economic factor they feel is significant. White, male, middle class, able bodied, straight, young directors are included in the quotas.

• We also measure various diversities in our industry reviewers, judges and our own hiring practises.

• Our quotas and performance are published on the Shiny website.

Contact with judges

• Shiny doesn't connect directors with jurors and judges. Judges often suggest directors contact them via their instagram, so we recommend doing that and messaging on their LinkedIn.

Shiny on FilmFreeway

• Shiny is a 'Gold' Film Festival on FilmFreeway, meaning members submitting there get 10% off the submission fee.

• As judges don't usually have accounts on Film Freeway (and won't want to create one) we ask submitters to provide a Youtube or Vimeo link in addition to the Film Freeway copy. Password protected is fine, as long as you enter the password in your entry form.