www.videoawards.com Is this for REAL?

[HartStudio]

www.videoawards.com

It just costs $50 to submit your entry. $50 more if you want to submit it to another category. Winners will recieve a Excellence, Distinction, or Honorable Mention certificate at no cost. If you win Excellence or a Distinction award you will be charged $110 for a personalized handcrafted 9x7 jade acrylic clapboard award with your name and entry title. Extra certificates and awards are available at an additional charge.

Check, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express accepted.

Make payments to:
The Videographer Awards
2214 Michigan, Suite E
Arlington, TX 76013

Postmark Deadline: March 18, 2005

The Videographer Awards keeps its entry fees low by not making all entrants subsidize awards won by others.

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This was mailed to me today. My question is.... Is this legal?

If it is.... I want to start my own Award.
It is the HARTSTUDIO BEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD AWARD.

$50 entrant fee and only $50 more bucks for a gold plated plastic bowling trophy with your name and title of your film on it. You are gauranteed to win!!!!

What are your thoughts? ???

Can I just give them $160 dollars and receive the award?

:-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

[J.R. Hudson]

That website is at the top if its game, is it not?

What a joke.

[dakotapod]

Not only is it a scam but the prick didn't even take ten minutes to make a decent web page! ::)

[HartStudio]

Well the pamphlet that came via usps looked legit enough until I came across the part about you have to pay for your award! :-X

[dakotapod]

Take the $120 or whatever it is and use it to enter into a half dozen real festivals.

[J.R. Hudson]

LOL Nice Avatar! Damn you Pookie! :D :o

What the hell? Have people actually fallen for this? You cannot be serious.

[Barry_Green]

Many awards competitions work that way. Doesn't mean this particular one is legit (or not). The Telly awards works like that -- it's about $50 to enter, which entitles you to a certificate if you win. If you want a statue, you can order that separately for like $110 or so. The Tellys have been around for a long time, and lots of big-name companies (like Disney, etc) still enter 'em.

I don't know anything about "videoawards.com"...

[antomic]

The Hollywood Reporter throws the annual Key Art Awards and all entries are $500, you then have to pay $250 for your award (if you win) and I believe admission tickets are over $100 or more now (and you no longer get a meal OR open bar) WTF?! I guess because they hold it where the REAL oscars are held...pretentious bitches. And it's all fixed anyway.

(This is me - being jaded) *>:(

(Key Art Awards for those who don't know, are like the ghetto oscars for motion picture advertising and market - print and trailers)

[antomic]

(and we do have several - so that's not the reason I'm jaded)

:D

[PrestonH]

They're legit. *I entered a piece a few years ago to them and the Telly's. Won awards from both. If you want more than a piece of paper you have to buy it. If you're looking to decorate your shelves you're more likely to do it via the former than the latter. Like Barry said, the Telly's are a big deal.

[HartStudio]

Am tempted to send my worst work to see if I win. Or even let my wife play around with the video cam send it in and see if I win. That would let me know if it is a joke or not. :P :P

[HartStudio]

What keeps them from giving awards to everybody?

I still don't like the idea of paying for an award. Entry fees are OK. That is how they pay for the prize and thier time.

You have just won a new car!!! We now just need $35,000 to pay the taxes and fees.

Uh... I'll Pass. They are making a fortune off the entry fees alone. ::)

Sigh... I guess I will never win a Telly.

My image of the Telly has now been shattered. Someone will tell me "I've won a Telly!" and I will think, "damn... you paid that much for an award!" ;D

The strange ways of the world.....

[dakotapod]

All I can say [IMHO] is other then the 3 dollar web site, there seems to be more winners in 2004 then the Oscars. I think every entry wins so they can sell the prize. That or they get 1000's of entries a year [which would justify a better website!] Again - IMO

[Karate_Media]

There was a guy in town who won one of these... I almost submitted last year just to see if anyone can win. Also, it's a nice little nothing that you can add to your site to impress clients -- they don't know one award from another, they'll just think, hey this guy won an award, he must be special...

There were two of these types of awards I contacted last year, actually, and one of them (I can't remember if it was videowards.com) kept calling me and leaving messages, telling me that they would extend their deadline for me. Seemed like a desperate plea for money to me...

[Barry_Green]

Okay, I'll bite... I'll send the DVX DVD out to just about every awards contest I can find with a deadline in March, and let you know how it turns out... ;D

[HartStudio]

You da Man! ;D ;D ;D

Let us know what happens!

[Barry_Green]

Okay, I've entered five so far -- VideoAwards, Aurora, Omni, Telly, and Accolade. Aegis looks like it's defunct or something, and I already have three CINDY's, so no need to get more of those. I've already got a Telly, but like I said before the Telly is legit and cool, so if I were to get another one of those, that'd be cool.

CINE was too darn expensive, and I've already got a Summit, no need for another.

Any others out there you guys have found? Trying to keep the entry fee below $60 or so, as this is adding up *rather quickly*! :)

[MikeWilkinson]

Resurrected from 2005 Zombiefest! i don't think I was even a member yet...

Barry, what did you discover from applying to those awards? I'd be interested in the results. Anyone else has something to offer from their experiences with these kinds of awards?

I too have done the Telly's. I've also entered the Aegis, Communicator, W3, and Davey. I have won at least one of each except for the Davey. I'm interested in learning of other places to submit than the ones you listed. If anyone knows of some, tell me about them!

I'd really love to enter to win a local emmy, but everything I read in the entry packet seems to be geared towards news programming pieces... I'm doing mostly promotional videos.