The Video Art Track

What is the video art track?

More than just the home for anime music videos, The Video Art Track is the single largest event for fans and editors of amateur music videos, fan parodies and amazing and astounding original video art. The Video Art track has always promoted remix culture and participatory fandom by supporting the creation and exhibition of fan works of art in video media.

Submission Instructions

Read all of the rules, especially the rules for the event in which you wish to enter. Every year we must disqualify entrants due to not meeting the rules of the contests. Don’t let that happen to you!

All submissions must be made in AVC format (From Wikipedia:Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is … by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distribution of video content … support[ing] resolutions up to and including 8K UHD)

All submissions should be encoded in H.264 MPEG-4 format in an .mp4 container. It’s also critically important that you review your video for audio sync issues. If you have any questions about video format and conversion, please contact us at videoart@awa-con.com.

We only accept submissions online through Google Form links listed below. The entire form with contact information must be completed for each video.

Accolades participants will be contacted at the email address provided with voting information. Multi-Editor Projects (MEPs) and other works created by more than one person will need to designate one person as the point of contact for the work. This person should complete the submission form listing all editors in the “Legal Name” field.

Rules for Submissions

Please read all the rules, especially those for the event you wish to enter. Most disqualifications can be avoided by simply reviewing and considering the rules before submitting.

The following rules apply to all music video events at Anime Weekend Atlanta. All events operate at the discretion of The Video Art Track and Anime Weekend Atlanta crew. Rules are subject to change without notice. Category and Award descriptions available on this website are guidelines only. Crew may add, change, or eliminate categories as they see fit. Awards have no significant cash value. Often, they have no tangible value whatsoever.

By submitting to The Video Art Track, the video editor grants us non-revocable permission to exhibit and distribute that work. The video editor otherwise retains all rights and responsibilities relating to their creation. The Video Art Track and Anime Weekend Atlanta support Remix Culture. All participants retain all rights to the value added by their creative endeavors and respect the rights retained by the original creators of the material they transform.

The Video Art Track does not dictate decisions of artistic judgment. The expression of your entry may draw from any type of source material. Specifically, we follow the Japanese use of the word anime to mean animation including computer-generated, hand-drawn, and stop-motion animation. Live action and video game sources are also permitted. We take no consideration of such things as country of origin or target market.

We encourage artists to seek out new and original projects. You may submit to as many events as you wish, but a single work may not be submitted to more than one of our events, present or past. The Music Video Exposition accepts works that have participated in other events, even those that have previously won awards. Other events require new works that have not been publicly exhibited in any fashion, either at an event or online.

The purpose of The Video Art Track is to showcase the creative works of the music video community. We make an effort to show at least one video from everyone who submits. So long as a panel or event is not in progress, and during any screening block, we will take requests to show any video. There is nothing we enjoy more than editors bringing their friends to The VAT to show off their works on the big screen with the big sound.

The Music Video Exposition (AKA Expo)

Submission Deadline: Sunday, September 27th 2026 at 11:59 PM EST

As usual, our open contest. Expo participants may submit as many entries as they like, and this can include videos that have premiered elsewhere/been in other contests.

This is your traditional video contest judged by a panel of crew members from The Video Art Track and Anime Weekend Atlanta. Our goal has always been to exhibit as many videos as possible from a wide array of genres and styles.

Instead of the conventional categories of Action/Comedy/Drama/etc., our judges will find a way to recognize as many deserving videos as time in our Gala Awards Ceremony permits. This often involves creative and unique categories that may surprise and delight our audience including our traditional “Grand Prize” which goes to the most surprising, speculative, or even weirdest of entries.

Like all our events, we don’t see this as a contest. We are here to share the creativity of the music video community, not to have editors compete against each other. Submitting to the Exposition is how you get your video shown in The Video Art Track during the convention and have a chance at appearing in the Gala Awards Show.

Important Info

Participation: Anyone may enter regardless of age or experience level.
Attendance is not required.
Deadline: All entries in The Music Video Exposition must be received by the published deadline. This is an “in our hands” deadline. Your video should be completely uploaded by the deadline.
Quantity: Each editor may submit as many of their videos as they like.
Prior Exhibition: We allow all videos in the Exposition, including those that have screened or even won awards at other conventions. We only ask that you only submit any given video to us once (If you submitted a video in a prior year, please do not submit the same video to us again).
Collaboration: Collaborative works and multi-editor projects (“MEP”s) are encouraged. Be sure to credit all editors in the project by adding all names in the “Collaborators” section of the Google Form.
Content: Editors are strongly encouraged to limit violence, profanity, and adult situations to the standards of an “R” motion picture rating or “Red-Band” trailer. There are limits to what can be exhibited during the day, and this is taken into consideration during judging. Mature or excessively violent or profane content will be restricted to late-night viewing in specific scheduled blocks. It’s recommended to submit any mature-rated videos to the Adults Only Music Video (AOMV) Contest. Requests for such videos at other times will not be able to be honored.
Credits: A short editor identification or studio bumper of a few seconds prior to the video is acceptable. Lengthy credit rolls are strongly discouraged and may be skipped by our VJs if present.

Disqualification: Entries expressing bigotry, hatred, or involving harassment of any kind are a violation of general convention policy and are not permitted. Entries in excessively poor taste, while not explicitly disqualified, are unlikely to be screened and we may not be able to honor requests for such videos. No watermarks or logos are permitted on the visual sources. This contest does not permit the use of AI-generated visual and/or audio sources that rely on other artists’ sources for generation.

Expo Video Submission

The Accolades

Submission Deadline: Sunday, September 27th 2026 at 11:59 PM EST

The Accolades is our peer-review event where editors who submit will judge the entries. Each participating editor will have the chance to review and vote for submissions in a number of categories. Judging for Accolades is done blind by other editors, and entries must be new videos that have not premiered elsewhere. Accolades participants are limited to two entries.

The Accolades has 9 fixed categories for this year:

Action
Drama
Comedy
Fun/Upbeat
Sentimental
Character Profile
Nekokitkat’s Appreciation Award
Best in Show
Wildcard (Best video of the non-finalists)

Due to submissions from previous years, we expect enough submissions for the 9 fixed categories. Editors may suggest a category for their video and may provide brief notes with their entry for clarification. Additional special categories may be suggested by the participants. Categories without any appropriate entries will not be awarded.

Early steps in the process after submissions close will include the ability to suggest/vote on additional categories (example additions: Artistic Endeavor, Romance, Live-Action, GMV, etc.). The plan is to vote for 5 additional categories.

How does the contest work?

All videos submitted will be available to download along with an online ballot. You will be asked to download and review the contest entries. Then, you vote on what categories are appropriate given the entries.

Next there is the nomination process, we ask you to simply select all videos that are worthy of finals and fit them into the chosen categories. Multiple videos can fit into a number of categories and you may nominate as many as you wish. The videos with the most nominations in each category are considered the finalists and the rest are removed from consideration. The final phase is simply voting on the single best finalist in each category.

This contest is completely driven by the editors that enter and as such should represent the pinnacle of one’s own capabilities.

- Participation: Anyone may enter regardless of age or experience level.
- Deadline: All entries in The VAT Accolades must be received by the published deadline (Sunday, September 27 2026 at 11:59 EST). This is an “in our hands” deadline. Your video should be completely uploaded by the deadline.
- Quantity: Each editor may submit up to two entries.
- Right of First Exhibition: By submitting a video to this event, you are granting the Video Art Track the right of first exhibition of your submission. Submissions may not have been presented in any public venue nor published online in any fashion prior to the Gala Awards Show at Anime Weekend Atlanta. Videos made for other online-only contests can’t be submitted due to being seen by other editors/judges. Videos may be posted after the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention is over (Sunday, November 22nd 2026 at 5:00 PM EST).

Right For Editor Reveal at End of Contest: Since this is a blind contest, the names of editors involved can’t be shown during the contest voting period. After voting is over, the editors themselves can reveal their videos in the Accolades Discord channel but can’t upload their video until the AWA convention is over. By submitting your video to Accolades, you give us permission to reveal editor names during the Awards Gala and potential panels using Accolades videos.

Collaboration: Each editor may submit two solo entries OR be involved in two collaborative entries OR one of each. Be sure to credit all editors in the project by adding all names in the “Collaborators” section of the Google Form (only one Google Form from one editor per collaboration is needed).
Content: With the exception of entries that self-designate the “Adult or Hentai” category, editors are strongly encouraged to limit violence, profanity, and adult situations to the standards of an “R” motion picture rating or “Red-Band” trailer. There are limits to what can be exhibited during the Gala Awards Show. We don’t like not being able to show the audience the winning video at the ceremony. You can submit the same video for both Accolades and Adults Only Music Video (AOMV) contests as long as editor identification is kept blind from the public before the convention.
Credits: In order to maintain a blind judging, individual or studio identification is not permitted. In order to conserve time during the awards ceremony, credits are not permitted.
Disqualification: Entries expressing bigotry, hatred, or involving harassment of any kind are a violation of general convention policy and are not permitted. Bullying, bigotry, and hatred during the peer review process will also not be tolerated and may result in suspension in the chat and/or expulsion from the contest. Entries in excessively poor taste, while not explicitly disqualified, are unlikely to be screened and we may not be able to honor requests for such videos. No watermarks or logos are permitted on the visual sources. This contest does not permit the use of AI-generated visual and/or audio sources that rely on other artists’ sources for generation.
If an entry must be disqualified, the editor will be given the option to include the submission in judging for The Music Video Exposition.

Accolades Video Submission

Adults Only Music Video (AOMV)

Submission Deadline: Sunday, September 27th 2026 at 11:59 PM EST

The Adults Only Music Video (AOMV) Contest is a chance to make/see 18+ videos that usually get skipped over at other conventions! Whether it’s nudity, swearing, gore, or something else, anything generally labeled as mature is welcomed here!

AOMV Information

Participation: Since it’s an Adults Only contest, it is recommended that only adult editors enter this contest due to the content involved.
Deadline: All entries in The VAT Accolades must be received by the published deadline Sunday September 27th 2026 at 11:59 EST. This is an “in our hands” deadline. Your video should be completely uploaded by the deadline.
Quantity: Each editor may only submit up to two entries.
Right of First Exhibition (Only if video is also submitted to Accolades): By submitting a video to this event, you are granting the Video Art Track the right of first exhibition of your submission. Submissions may not have been presented in any public venue nor published online in any fashion prior to the Gala Awards Show at Anime Weekend Atlanta. Videos made for other online-only contests can’t be submitted due to being seen by other editors/judges. Videos may be posted after the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention is over (Sunday, November 22nd 2026 at 5:00 PM EST).
Content: Content can be 18+/Mature. No use of illegal or borderline illegal material (snuff, loli, etc.).
Credits: A short editor identification or studio bumper of a few seconds prior to the video is acceptable. Lengthy credit rolls are strongly discouraged and may be skipped by our VJs if present. No credits can be present if video is also used in Accolades.
Disqualification: Entries expressing bigotry, hatred, or involving harassment of any kind are a violation of general convention policy and are not permitted. Entries in excessively poor taste, while not explicitly disqualified, are unlikely to be screened and we may not be able to honor requests for such videos. No watermarks or logos are permitted on the visual sources. This contest does not permit the use of AI-generated visual and/or audio sources that rely on other artists’ sources for generation.

AOMV Application

Contacts

If you have any additional questions please reach out to the VAT Leadership team on

Discord: https://discord.gg/PRE3HgX5mC

Co-Coordinator Josh’s Email: joshvatinator@pm.me

Co-Coordinator Kirbygal’s Email: Kirbygal91@gmail.com