ConnectiCon’s Fanmade Music Video Contest (FMV Contest) is an exhibition and competition of fan-created music videos. For ConnectiCon XXII 2025, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, and therefore are hosting the event as the A:TLA Music Video Contest (AMV Contest). Please note some changes to this year's guidelines outlined below, including detailed information on international submissions, cosplay video submissions, and new award categories. Videos that are chosen as finalists will be screened before an audience during the Friday session of ConnectiCon XXII. The audience will vote for their favorite videos and the winners will be featured during the Death Match pre-show on Saturday night.

RULES

DOWNLOAD RULES PDF HERE

Submission Rules

• Any entries that violate the contest rules will be disqualified. You will be entitled to an email stating why your entry was disqualified and you will be given one chance to edit and resubmit your creation. If your resubmitted work still violates the contest rules, you will be notified and you will not be permitted to submit again.
• Your entry must be your own work and no one else's. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. If you are caught fraudulently submitting videos, you will be barred from participating in all future ConnectiCon AMV Contests and your information will be shared with the coordinators of other contests, who may take further action at their discretion.
• All entries must be less than one year old as of the date of the 2025 convention.

Ineligible videos include:

• Anything first publicly exhibited (uploaded to an online video service) prior to July 18th, 2024.
• A remastered version of anything previously submitted to ConnectiCon.

• Contestants are limited to a maximum of two videos total and to one video per category, either as a sole creator or part of a collaboration. This DOES NOT include the Fun-Sized category for which we will accept up to 2 additional videos, making for a maximum of 4 entries per contestant. The AMV Contest Coordinator reserves the right to change a video’s category assignment if it more properly fits a different category than the one chosen by the creator.
• All entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on May 15th, 2025.
• By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees:
  • They have read, understand, and will comply with these official rules, and to the extent permitted by law, consent to the use of the entrant's name and/or studio name for purposes of advertising and promotion by ConnectiCon, without further consent, compensation, or approval.
  • By submitting a video to ConnectiCon AMV Contest, the video creator grants ConnectiCon irrevocable permission to exhibit that video. The video creator otherwise retains all rights and responsibilities relating to its creation. Many submissions that are not selected as finalists will likely be featured during the Sunday session in the AMV room.
• We reserve the right to modify these rules at any time without notice.

Editor Rules

• Due to COPPA regulations, applicants must be of age 13 or over to enter. A parent or guardian may enter the contest on behalf of a minor.
• Contestants do not need a ConnectiCon membership to enter the contest.
• ConnectiCon staff members — except those directly involved in planning and running the contest — may enter the AMV Contest.
• United States contestants must have a valid mailing address.
• *NEW* ConnectiCon is happy to announce that we are now accepting international submissions for this contest! Contestants who live outside the United States must choose one of the following options on their submission form (in case of winning any awards):
  • You agree to forgo any physical prizes and opt for a printable certificate OR
  • Understanding that we have a limited budget to work with, you agree to pay any outstanding shipping costs for us to ship physical prizes to you.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Entries may not be shorter than 30 seconds, nor longer than five minutes.

• Your initial submission must be linked via Google Drive (make sure Link Sharing stays enabled until July 18th, 2025 (!)), Dropbox or SendSpace. The following file extensions are preferred: AVI, FLV, MPEG4, MP4, MOV and WMV
• For best results, we recommend a resolution setting of 1280x720 or 1920x1080 for widescreen, and 960x720 or 1440x1080 for fullscreen. Please ensure your videos have appropriate frame rate settings and high quality audio.

• The maximum file size of each entry is 1 GB. There are online tools available to compress the file size of videos that are too large (an example would be Flixier).
• Videos that have significant video or audio quality issues may be disqualified depending on the severity. Examples of issues that qualify include interlacing, squashed/stretched aspect ratios, chunky/blocky video, jagged lines, and audio distortion.

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

• *NEW* Video footage can be motion capture from any source - cartoons, anime, video games, or a live-action drama/movie/series – and starting in 2025, we are also encouraging cosplay skits and other cosplay-based content! Motions and animations to comic/manga/manhwa panels are acceptable.
• Footage of active game play from a video game where the game interface is visible is not acceptable.
• Footage recorded from live TV broadcasts is eligible, but not encouraged, as it frequently contains watermarks and is often of lower quality.
• Footage may not contain ANY watermarks, commercial subtitles, title screens, logos, credits, introductions, or audio from the commercial English dub of any show.
• Editors may add their own subtitles where appropriate, but many find these distracting and thus they may reduce the chances of an entry being a finalist.
• At least 75% of the entry must be set to music. This rule does not apply to parodies or videos that qualify for the “Fun-Sized” (short-form) category.
• Videos may not be collections of shorts. "AMV Hell"–style videos are not eligible for entry to the contest.
• Entries must conform to CARA PG-13 rating standards as defined in the official ratings guidelines - this will be especially enforced for live action and cosplay content. If you are unsure if your video is compliant, please contact the AMV Contest Coordinator. In particular, there should be no sexually oriented nudity and violence should not be excessive, gratuitous, or constant.

CATEGORIES

*FEATURING IN 2025* Avatar Spirit — Videos that feature media from OR are thematically inspired by any media property that falls under the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise (includes Legend Of Korra and Netflix’s The Last Airbender)

Action — Videos that feature adrenaline. Whether through combat, competition, or just plain speed, these are the videos that get the heart pumping faster

Drama — Videos that tell a story, tug at the heartstrings, or feature an emotion such as sadness, nostalgia, or anger

Upbeat/Comedy — Videos that make you happy, smile and either want to dance or laugh out loud

Romance/Sentimental — Videos about relationships: platonic, familial, or romantic love that a person feels for someone or something else

Experimental — Videos that don't precisely fit into the rest of the categories: experimental videos, artistic pieces, etc

Fun-Sized — Any and all short-form content. This category includes:

• Original and/or parody movie trailers and commercials

• Original and/or parody opening credit sequences
• Parodies
• Shorts of any genre that conform to the PG-13 standard
• Any video under 90 seconds in length will automatically be entered into this category

Please note that Tik-Tok formatted [vertical] videos will not be accepted - your entry must still meet the basic technical guidelines as outlined above.

AWARDS

Audience Voted

• *NEW* Avatar Spirit Award
• Best Action
• Best Drama
• Best Experimental
• Best Fun-Sized
• Best Romance/Sentimental
• Best Upbeat/Comedy

Judges Awards

• Metalbender Award ~ Best Concept — The best-executed idea behind a video
• Lightningbender Award ~ Best Editing — The best technical accomplishment in editing
• General Iroh Award — The best video featuring live-action cosplay
• White Lotus Award ~ Judges Choice — The favorite video of the panel of judges
• Coordinator's Choice — All videos that qualify for the contest are eligible to win this award; it is not restricted to only the finalists
• Made In Connecticut Award — All videos that qualify for the contest and are made by a creator who is a Connecticut resident are eligible to win this award
• Best Of Show — Will be determined by a combination of judges and audience votes

PRIZES

• All prizes for awards will be mailed out after the convention by October 15th, 2025. Prizes are subject to yearly availability as well as the ranking of awards, but all will include:
  • Various ConnectiCon merchandise
  • Award plaque

The winner of Best Of Show will receive a complementary 2026 ConnectiCon membership voucher.

FINAL GUIDELINES

• If you do not receive a confirmation email or other communication from us by May 31st, 2025, we may have incorrect contact information. Please reach out to the AMV Contest Coordinator.
• All entries are prescreened by ConnectiCon staff and then judged by a panel of both AMV editors and non-editors to determine five finalist videos per category to be shown at the convention. The finalists will be announced in a ConnectiCon XXII newsletter email, social media, and AnimeMusicVideos.Org prior to the convention. Finalists themselves will also get a separate email announcing their selection.
• ConnectiCon schedules overflow screenings on Sunday for entries not selected as finalists. We will show as many videos as time allows, but cannot guarantee that all videos will be shown.

HOW TO APPLY

Entries may be submitted by filling out the electronic form below beginning January 1st, 2025.