Q: are mobile phone videos acceptable?

A: Anything is acceptable, as long as our staff can find it on a website.

Q: How are entries judged?

A: All entries are viewed by someone on the Crystal Awards staff. If they are deemed worthy, entries are then shown during the weekly Crystal Awards film festival, also at the Royal theater. Audience reaction at these events is considered as one of the criteria in choosing winning videos.

Q: What types of videos are not acceptable?

A: Pornographic, excessively violent, and clearly promotional videos (commercials) will not be accepted. Beyond that, the producers reserve the right to judge entries on purely subjective criteria.

Q: What is the best way to engage the attention of the Crystal Awards staff?

A: The producers receive hundreds of videos every month, most of which they don’t watch all the way through. Therefore, it is critically important that your video captures the attention of the viewer in the first minute or so. It’s impossible to predict which videos will do this, but in general it’s a good idea to avoid cliches and to use visuals and sounds which are fresh, unique, and compelling.

q: What is the fee to enter a video?

A 20.00$, payable through Paypal toqmxroyal@aol.com, or by credit card or bank draft. The fee is non-refundable, and the producers reserve the right to do whatever they want with the videos, unless you make specific arrangements with them to the contrary. The only guarantee the Crystal Awards makes is that every entry which meets our requirements will be viewed at least in part by a member of our staff. No other promises are expressed or implied.

q: Why can’t I upload my video to your site?

A: We are not another video display site. We don’t want to compete with the sites which already do a fine job of presenting videos to everyone. Our purpose is to encourage quality work, wherever it appears.

Therefore, when you submit your fee to have your video considered, include its location (YouTube, Grouper, Bolt, AOL, etc.) so that our judges can find it.

It’s best to send an email to us using the address in the contact section, AND to also leave the pertinent information in the paypal comments box, so that your entry is not lost.

q: What do the award winners receive?

A: The Crystal Award Trophy,  publicity on our website and screening during our weekly theater showings, during which directors can lead discussions. Also, we sometimes send out press releases and often attach particularly noteworthy videos.

Q: Are awards always granted in every category?

A: No. In order to preserve the integrity of the Crystal Awards, we only present rewards to videos we deem to be outstanding.

Q: What are the award categories?

A: These are the current ones. More may be added later.

Drama (original script)

Comedy (storyline)

Comedy (stand-up)

Animation (Full motion, anime, stop-motion, claymation)

Visual Beauty (most aesthetically pleasing)

Music (real content, not just film of band playing)

News (original footage not taken from television)

Educational (must teach the viewer something useful)

Scientific (eclipses, slow-motion plant growth, etc.)

Social (informs about Darfur, Global Warming, etc.)

Machinema (derived from a video game)

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and horror

Parody (of popular TV shows, movie, music video, etc.)