Judging preference and contest interest...

[dwchang]

Blind. There's too much wankery in this community already. I trust your judgment and I trust you wouldn't go out of your way to find out who did what.

[JudgeHolden]

Maybe I should be asking, would you be more willing to enter a contest if you had the opportunity to win a lot of money?

No, what makes me want to enter a contest is having it shown to a "live studio audience", pure and simple. If I win something in the process, so much the better.

[Pwolf]

Maybe I should be asking, would you be more willing to enter a contest if you had the opportunity to win a lot of money?

No, what makes me want to enter a contest is having it shown to a "live studio audience", pure and simple. If I win something in the process, so much the better.

Yea, same here... but I don't have a major con to show to. The only thing I would be able to do is get panel time at a major con and announce the winners.

Pwolf

[Phantasmagoriat]

Prestige is more important to me. I don't care about cash or prizes.

If you want to know which combo I'd rather enter a semi blind contest for a jacket, chair, or trophy. They just mean more to me.

Makes sense... but how do you sell prestige?

just... HYPE IT!

...and to a certain extent, this is probably what it's all about anyway. People just want to get their videos out there. Find more venues to show their work. Things like video spotlight, public reviews, blog entries, recommended viewings, free hosting etc. IDK, the way I see it, pimpage (or lack thereof) is what prevents a lot of good videos from getting well-known in the first place. Sometimes, simply entering a contest can be tiring enough for me, and I'll ask myself if it was worth it just to be shown once or twice at a convention. I'm not saying I would want shameless in-your-face advertisement... but vehicles that help promote a creator's work might be worth more than any prize ever could be.

so, anyways... I can't really answer your questions since my motivation for making amv's and entering them in contests is more hmm... intrinsic. Most of the contests I've entered were simply ones that had due dates around the time I finished an amv-- with the exceptions of Anime Evolution and Animethon, since they are kind of local.

[godix]

Ya know, winning an award multiple judges decided was worth it tends to mean more than winning an award that one guy liked. With your first idea you'd run into people going 'Oh pwolf just don't like the song I used' or 'he likes sappy romance so of course THAT would win over this much better action video' and so on. The contest wouldn't be to make the best AMV, it'd be to impress you the most. More judges reduces the validity of those types of complaints, thus increases the prestige of the award. This is one of the reasons why I honestly think AWA Pro has more prestige than AWA Masters. Masters has this certain perception around it, but if you look at how it's actually done the award is as much for targeting a couple guys taste as it is for making a great video.

[Vlad G Pohnert]

For he categories in the contest I run I have a hand picked panel of judges for and I make sure they have no credits so they are as blind as possible or don't influence the choices by having flashy credits, etc. Some judges of course know who made it but I find having credits does sometimes play subconscious on us rather then not having them even if you know the creator; it still helps in that respect to stay a bit more neutral.

I think one factor that should also be brought up is the importance of good judge selection. This may sound easy but not all editors make good judges too. I find that some people out there who don't make AMVs make real good judges as well so a mixture of the two from people who don't have favorites or favor a studio or individual is perfect, but not easy to find. I myself try to give a lot of consideration to the balance of judges I have for any of my contests and so far I think it seems to work well.

That my two cents worth.

Vlad

[JudgeHolden]

Ya know, winning an award multiple judges decided was worth it tends to mean more than winning an award that one guy liked. With your first idea you'd run into people going 'Oh pwolf just don't like the song I used' or 'he likes sappy romance so of course THAT would win over this much better action video' and so on. The contest wouldn't be to make the best AMV, it'd be to impress you the most. More judges reduces the validity of those types of complaints, thus increases the prestige of the award. This is one of the reasons why I honestly think AWA Pro has more prestige than AWA Masters. Masters has this certain perception around it, but if you look at how it's actually done the award is as much for targeting a couple guys taste as it is for making a great video.

godix is spot on!

[MCWagner]

How so?

[outlawed]

Go balls deep and do the method which requires the least work in terms of management.

Judge them yourself and don't worry about entries being blind.

Easiest.