Student Eligibility Requirements

Entries can be submitted to the following competitions: Audio, Documentary, Interactive Multimedia, Film & Video, News and Open.

Questions or concerns?  Email mdbruce@ua.edu or heather@beaweb.org.

1. Predominant Authorship and Originality: The competition invites submissions of original creative works in which the entrant maintained predominant authorship over the project’s content and aesthetics (producing, directing, writing, editing, etc.).
a. Entries under the role of executive producer are accepted ONLY if as producer the entrant was significantly involved in the entry’s design and creation.
b. Previously submitted works to BEA creative competitions or the Festival of Media Arts will not be accepted. However, a derivative of a previous work may qualify for submission if it can be shown that substantial changes have been made to the original work assuming that the author has legal rights to the original. In these cases, the entrant must provide additional clarification.
c. Partial works or works-in-progress will not be accepted.

2. Completion Date: Only works completed after July 15, 2022 are eligible for submission.

3. BEA Members Only: The competition is open to full-time graduate and undergraduate students who are either individual BEA members or enrolled at a university or college that is a BEA Institutional Member. Membership forms and information are available on the BEA website at www.beaweb.org. Entrants must certify that the entry was completed while enrolled full-time as a student at a university, college, or community/technical college. NOTE: Undergraduate students enrolled at a BEA Member Institution receive a free student membership by registering online.

4. Legal Permissions: The entrant agrees to clear all licenses, copyrights, and permissions to ensure that the submission can legally and ethically be presented at the BEA On-Location convention and website. If an entity other than the entrant owns the rights to all or part of the submitted program, the entrant must attach written consent from the owner or an authorized representative of the owner to the entry form.

5. Language: Works must be in English or have English subtitles.

6. Submission Deadline: All entries must be submitted online. Online submissions will be accepted through June 15, 2023.

Submission Requirements

1. One Entry Form for Each Entry: The entrant must complete one entire entry form for each work submitted. Each entry has its own non-refundable entry fee.

2. Entry Fee: A non-refundable entry fee is required for each work submitted.  Paying online by credit or debit card is the best way to ensure that your payment is received on time. Check or money order payments are accepted but must be received by June 15, 2023.
a. Choose the Appropriate Category: Entrants are responsible for submitting their work to the appropriate category. If the chair determines that an entry does not fit the selected category, the entry may be reassigned or rejected. Entry fees will not be refunded for rejected or reassigned entries.

3. Submission Process: Entrants must follow the online procedures for electronically submitting video, audio, scriptwriting, and website entries. Media submissions that fail to work or are not understandable for any reason will result in the disqualification of the entry. Failure to properly complete any portion of the submission process (completing the online entry form, submitting the media, and paying the entry fee) by the June 15, 2023 deadline will disqualify the entry from the competition.

Judging Process

1. Evaluation Criteria: Entries are evaluated according to the following criteria: 1) professionalism; 2) the use of aesthetic and/or creative elements; 3) sense of structure and timing; 4) production values; 5) technical merit; and 6) the overall contribution to the discipline in both form and substance.

2. Judging: A panel comprised of media educators and/or industry professionals with expertise in the submitted category will judge each entry. Short-form entries (less than 15 minutes) will be viewed in their entirety. For long-form entries, judges are required to watch at least 15 minutes of each entry. Judges will not be assigned to review an entry where there is an obvious conflict of interest or in cases where the judge is institutionally affiliated with an entrant.

3. Blind Review: Every effort will be made to conduct a blind review of each submission. Wherever possible, entrants should remove information that points to the identity of the work’s author and/or co-author(s).

4. Competition Chair: The Competition Chair(s) reserves the right to re-distribute award-worthy creative work to another competition if a particular competition doesn’t receive a sufficient number of entries to merit a single award.