Otafest 2008 AMV Contest - WINNERS!

jen-chan · Post by **jen-chan** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:39 am

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with deep embarrassment and disappointment (and a not-so-healthy dose of fury), that I must make the announcement that the previously announced winner of our 'Honorable Mention: Best Local Video' and 'Otafest 2008 AMV Contest Winner: Fan Favourite AMV' has been disqualified, as the winning entry was not the winner's own creation, and was in fact a very severe case of stealing and plagiarism.

Please note that the offender has been cataloged and has been permanently banned from attending any future Otafests. Anyone else found to be guilty of submitting stolen property to our contests will similarly be permanently banned.

I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart, to:

1) the creators of the videos who would have won 'Best Local Video' and 'Fan Favourite AMV'. I am so sorry that a plagiarist has stolen the thunder that should have been yours when the winning entries were announced. It is only an empty comfort to me that none of the awards have been given out yet, and so, I will send the ribbons, certificates and prizes to proper winners of these categories.

2) to the actual creators of the stolen AMVs. I will be contacting you personally to apologize to you, and to further ask if there is any more corrective action you would like me to take.

3) to our Otafest attendees. I am very sorry that what should have been a highlight of your experience at Otafest, now has such a black stain on it. To this end, I feel like there is not very much I can do, other than to revise the AMV contest rules to guard against the case of plagiarism in the future. This is a very difficult task, and I understand that many AMV Contest are actually starting to come across this problem, but I will endeavor to do my best to try to prevent this from happening again in the future.

I would like to thank everyone for helping to bring this matter to my attention so that it could be resolved - THANK YOU. I am only one person, and my ability to spot plagiarism is limited. The more pairs of eyes, the better.

And so, the winners of the Otafest 2008 AMV Contest are so revised:

Honorable Mention: BEST LOCAL VIDEO
Totoro's Picnic by Yoko

OTAFEST 2008 AMV CONTEST WINNER: FAN FAVOURITE AMV!
Attack of the Otaku by Chiikaboom

Congratulations to Yoko and Chiikaboom!

Cheers,

Jenny Chan
Otafest 2008 - Special Events Co-Coordinator
special-events@otafest.com
http://www.otafest.com

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:59 am

It angers me as a creator that someone would try such a cheap trick, but I'm glad the matter was resolved so that genuine competitors could be awarded what's rightfully theirs.

I think it's a shame that this type of problem keeps creeping up, but that just means that as a community we need to keep a watchful eye and be sure everyone stays honest.

Otafest was still an awesome contest though, and Jen you deserve major props for handling this so quickly and professionally.

Kitsuner · Post by **Kitsuner** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:43 pm

Sorry guys, it won't happen again. <_<

Org Profile · Post by **Vlad G Pohnert** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:08 pm

Yes, it is frustrating and sad to find that someone would go that far, AND actually be at the event and in the audience...

I'm a bit frustrated with myself as I encoded all the videos and should of spotted something fishy with the Halloween one (it sort of looked familiar and I've actually played it in one of my AMV rooms several years back, but when your very busy, things tend to slip through). I've probably seen and know of more videos then most people do...

Hence I myself from this point forward will be checking entries a lot more closely for any contests I run or am involved in one way or another. I hate to have to spend more time on that, but want to ensure it’s more fair to everyone else who submits.

What's a shame about it is that someone who stoops so low actually lives in the same part of the world as I do (so much for hoping everyone is honest). On a positive note, as this is the first time I've run into this myself, and I still feel that almost everyone who does enter are honest and that is still kind of incident is still rare.

I too want to thank Jenny for handling this fast and professionally and feel the punishment is what the person deserves. Jenny works very hard for Otafest and does a fantastic job with the AMV contest and does not deserve to have to deal with this. I hope this is the only time it happens

ALSO, I'll post a few pictures of the contest audience here later tonight. It still was a very enjoyable contest

Vlad

jtGz · Post by **jtGz** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:42 pm

Vlad G Pohnert wrote:Yes, it is frustrating and sad to find that someone would go that far, AND actually be at the event and in the audience...

Either brave, either sly or rather stupid. :3

Phantasmagoriat · Post by **Phantasmagoriat** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:44 pm

wow. just wow.

And when I think about it, it sounds pretty hard to guard against unless you thoroughly know every amv ever made. Which is near impossible, even for you Vlad, so don't beat yourself up. I suppose you could compare filesizes to the org database, assuming it came from here and was never re-encoded. It would also help if people put credits at the end of their amv's... but that's up to the original creator... anyways... again wow.

props to Jenny and Vlad for handling the contest,
and additional grats to Yoko and Chii

~Phan

Goketsu · Post by **Goketsu** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:29 pm

jen-chan wrote:Hi Everyone!
Honorable Mention: BEST ACTION VIDEO!
Step inside the Animatrix by ArashinomeAMV
Honorable Mention: EPIC!
Path of Destiny by Danielle Childs
OTAFEST 2008 AMV CONTEST WINNER: FIRST PLACE & BEST IN SHOW!
Attack of the Otaku by Chiikaboom

OTAFEST 2008 AMV CONTEST WINNER: FAN FAVOURITE AMV!
Attack of the Otaku by Chiikaboom

I just want to congratulate everyone but especially congratulate these editors cause these are the only amv's I recognize >_> but I will check out some of the other amvs 2 =o

Radical_Yue · Post by **Radical_Yue** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:20 pm

Autraya wrote:
Radical_Yue wrote:Yay~ Great job everyone =]

*wub to Judgie and Chii*
no yue lub for me, that's it! I'm taking you off my yuri gropes list.

congrats all

GAH! I sorry ;_; Katie's keyboard is a bitch to type on and I totally forgot ;________;

*raperaperaperaperaperaperape <33333333333

Me lubs sexi aussie that is sexi ;_;

JudgeHolden · Post by **JudgeHolden** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:44 pm

Well, being one who has had a video "stolen" and entered into a contest, I have to say you handled it very well and in the proper manner.

Congrats to all the "real" winners!

Dragon/Roy · Post by **Dragon/Roy** » Thu May 22, 2008 9:24 am

I wonder how the reaction to my video was at the Cosplay half-time show

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Otafest 2008 AMV Contest - WINNERS!

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