Multiple awards in a single contest?

[Rider4Z]

Hey guys, I'm the coordinator for Anime Conji's AMV Contest and assist. co- for Anime Vegas and I wanted to ask for ya'lls opinion about something.

How do you feel about a single video or editor winning multiple awards in a single contest? If a video wins its respective category along with another award like judges' fave or best of show, should it be acknowledged to having won everything? Or should they only receive the highest honor and the next in line should take the lower award? What other options are there? What have you experienced that you liked or didn't like?

I already have my own opinion about what it should be, but I want to hear what the majority has to say about this subject. How others feel may change how I run my contests.

(Just fyi, i'll only be taking serious and well thought out opinions into account.)

[Castor Troy]

[Vlad G Pohnert]

I never limit that, if the video for example has the best technical and best in show or even best in category, why should it be excluded winning that.

I see that as manipulating the contest as say a video is the best action video, but also the best video of all , why should it be deprived of winning best action and best of show when it deserves both.

kind of compare that to the Academy awards, movie can win multiple awards and best picture.

Vlad

[GloryQuestor]

I agree with what Vlad says. You shouldn't arbitrarily change an award that was voted on by another party (audience or judges).

If there is ever a tie vote with judges, you should have that worked out well in advance with your judges. If there is a tie vote with audience, however, you should let the award ceremony audience vote to break the tie, rather than making a call (even if the videos tied are by the same person, which actually just happened to me this past weekend ).

[TritioAFB]

Can I ask about what you think of a video that keeps winning all the Best of Show in a year and it's still being submitted?

[Warlike Swans]

I think a wider distribution of awards ends up making things more fun. You have more videos to play at the awards ceremony and more editors feeling that their work is recognized.

If AMV contests could be judged with clear and objective standards it might make more sense to give a video all the awards that it's "earned," but there are so many subjective elements that I'd prefer to see the fun aspect the contest maximized rather than the integrity of each award.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

For any contest I run, I don't' restrict or penalize it for how many other award at other cons it wins. Honestly, I run a several contests and AMV rooms, etc.. And the average con goer only watches AMVs at the cons mainly. I use a freshness rule to keep thing relatively new which helps..

ALSO, have to say it, but there are many contests out there and not enough editors to stock them all with just one entry per contest, so if you restrict a entry to only one contest, a lot of contest would not get any or very little... It's also important to understand that as fair as we may want to be and judge by, there is also the entertainment factor we need for the audience and most who watch a lot of AMVs think audiences who watch a at a contest have already seen a video that won somewhere elsewhere.. I asked the audiences that question at several cons and a Lot of them did not see many videos in contests to begin with let alone know they even one something..

Now, I fully agree with variety of winners and diversity, BUT not at the cost of manipulating the awards to restrict out what a video may deserve to win. Then it is best is to make more diverse awards and more categorical ones to ensure the wins are spread out over many videos.. There are other ways too that don't relay on saying a video is restricted to not win this if it wins that.

so let me put this out, if the audience vote for a video is say 75% for it in a category (CLEAR WINNER) and it also wins Best of Show, then the runner-up in that category should get the category award even though it was not even close?

Vlad

[Warlike Swans]

so let me put this out, if the audience vote for a video is say 75% for it in a category (CLEAR WINNER) and it also wins Best of Show, then the runner-up in that category should get the category award even though it was not even close?

Vlad

Many Best in Show winners are extremely clear. It is the stand out video of the contest and it is getting the standout award of the contest. Getting a categorical award is just redundant.

All the Best in Shows I've won have been in contests that eliminate the redundancy, and I've certainly never felt deprived. A second award for the same count of the ballots is pretty meaningless.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

Redundant, how so? and why meaningless? I see the Best in Show video as one that has all the right balance of "ingredients" overall to make is the best of the lot. Also on a side, I not really sure I would say it's extremely clear otherwise in most cases all the Judges would all choose the same video, or the audience depending on who is determining it, which is not always the case I've found.

I see winning Best of Show more of the honor for the video that is the best of the bunch shown, but why would that make any other award redundant? As for winning a category like say best comedy, if it really is the best comedy video of the group, why not recognize it just because it also happens to be the Best of Show.

Now I also understand there are many views and opinions and that it not make anyone right here. In all honesty, if all contests were exactly the same in how they award or judge things it would kind of get boring so it's nice to see variety. Just because the way a contest awards or judges thing is not the same as my opinion, does not make it wrong or any less right nor does it usually deter me from entering.

Vlad

[Ileia]

I've been on both ends. I've had a video take Best in Show at cons where the category award went to the next in line.....and I've been that next in line before. From the Best in Show standpoint, not getting the category award isn't a huge deal (and making a big deal out of it seems almost greedy). But when I'm the "second best" and I'm given the award for best? I hate that feeling.

Knowing that you weren't really the winner, that you were only chosen on a technicality, robs that win of any of its meaning. If I'm competing with other videos in a category, I want to compete with all of them. Taking one out of the running because it won Best in Show is like demoting the rest of the videos. I would rather lose fair and square than be given an award where it's basically, "Yeah, you can be the best...out of the rest. This one is too good for the likes of you guys." If a video wins, it wins. Simple as that.