NEWS STORY
A video package, containing interviews, b-roll, natural sound, interviews, voiceovers, and optional reporter stand-ups, presenting a clear and fact-driven style (including who, what, where, when, why, and how) that gives a timely account of a recent, interesting, and significant event or development in your school or community. Entry Time Limit: 2 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
FEATURE STORY [DIVISIONS: HSD1, HSD2 & NOVICE - FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY!]
A video package, containing interviews, b-roll, natural sound, interviews, voiceovers, and optional reporter stand-ups, presenting an interesting look at an event, community occurrence or person. Features should contain less of a news angle and need not be timely, rather be driven by human interest. The story should be an in-depth look at a particular subject, event, or location that keeps the audience’s attention throughout, delivering a compelling narrative to create a lasting impression. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
SPORTS STORY
A video package, containing interviews, b-roll, natural sound, interviews, voiceovers, and optional reporter stand-ups, covering sports, athletes, coaches and other related topics. These should not be game recaps, but rather compelling news or feature stories on a sports-related topic. This is not limited to coverage of a school sport or team. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
NAT PACKAGE
A feature story solely driven by sound. These should not include reporter track or voiceovers, rather tell a complete and compelling story using only interviews/soundbites and natural sound. Topics may range from news to features. These stories should feel complete, even without a reporter closing, so they should close with a strong sound bite. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
VLOG [DIVISIONS: HSD1 & HSD2]
A vlog is a personal video where creators filming themselves while talking about a subject or doing something relevant, then published to the web. A vlog can be educational, documentary, or comedic. It may include video, text, images, and other fun features that help you make your point and entertain your audience. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 6 students
SILENT FILM [DIVISIONS: HSD1 & HSD2]
A story with no synchronized sound for dialogue, but may include music. The music should be an essential part of the story, providing the audience emotional cues for the actions and reactions taking place on the screen. There should be an emphasis on body language and facial expression, so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen. Sound effects are prohibited. Title slate and credits are required and count toward your total run time. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 6 students
SHORT FILM [DIVISIONS: HSD1 & HSD2]
A short-form movie with a clear, compelling story that can be any genre (drama, comedy, horror, etc.) or form (documentary, live-action, animated) of filmmaking. Like feature films, short films tell closed-ended stories with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Title slate and credits are required and count toward your total run time. Entry Time Limit: 3 minutes or less | Max team size: 6 students
COMMERCIAL [DIVISIONS: HSD1, HSD2 & NOVICE - FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ONLY!]
A 30-second creative piece meant to sell a product or service. These can involve actors and live action, or can be completely made up of graphics. Creativity, proper lighting, framing (when applicable) and sound will be considered. It should send a strong message to the audience through narrative, visually, or both to catch the audiences attention while also promoting the product. Entry Time Limit: Exactly 30 seconds | Max team size: 6 students
MUSIC VIDEO [DIVISIONS: HSD1 & HSD2]
A music video is a visual performance of a recorded song, accompanied by cinematic imagery, visual effects, or musicians performing to provide a dramatic visual interpretation of a song. A music video should capture the essence of the song’s message through compelling visuals and storytelling. Entry Time Limit: Full length of provided song | Max team size: 6 students
PODCAST SEGMENT
An audio package made with a specific purpose to be part of a larger podcast episode. The entry should include a host or hosts reporting on the given topic through discussions, studio interviews and soundbites. The segment may include a brief intro with music and/or sound effects, but should not include commercials or other creative elements that do not provide meaning to the piece. Due to the Dashboard system, please upload a .MP4 video file with a title slate. Entry Time Limit: 5 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT [DIVISIONS: HSD1 & HSD2]
A 30-second creative piece highlighting a current issue in society. It should include a mention of the issue, a statistic to support why it is a societal problem and a call to action. These can involve actors and live action, or can be completely made up of graphics. Entry Time Limit: Exactly 30 seconds | Max team size: 6 students
VERTICAL FEATURE STORY
A video package shot and edited in 9:16 ratio exclusively for vertical distribution on social media, containing interviews, b-roll, natural sound, interviews, voiceovers, and optional reporter stand-ups, presenting an interesting look at an event, community occurrence or person. Features should contain less of a news angle and need not be timely, rather be driven by human interest. The story should be an in-depth look at a particular subject, event, or location that keeps the audience’s attention throughout, delivering a compelling narrative to create a lasting impression. Entry Time Limit: 2 minutes or less | Max team size: 4 students
VERTICAL SHORT FILM
A short-form story shot and edited in 9:16 ratio exclusively for vertical distribution on social media, with a clear, compelling story that can be any genre (drama, comedy, horror, etc.) or form (documentary, live-action, animated) of filmmaking. Like feature films, short films tell closed-ended stories with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Title slate and credit are required and count toward your total run time. Entry Time Limit: 2 minutes or less | Max team size: 6 students
COMMENTARY [NEW]
Teams will produce a commentary piece, based on a prompt, that expresses the reporter’s personal opinion about a current event or controversial issue. It should reflect a biased, subjective point of view with a clearly stated opinion that focuses on persuading the viewer’s feelings on the issue instead of informing on the facts. Entry Time Limit: 90 seconds or less | Max team size: 2 students