Enter the Second Annual National Neighborhood Day Short Film Contest - What Does Neighborhood Mean To You?

The mission of National Neighborhood Day is to inspire, build, and sustain the neighborhood relationships that provide the foundation for civic action and the building of stronger, more caring and effective communities. The vision establishes National Neighborhood Day as an annual day to recognize and reinforce the relationships that are the fabric of our communities.

To promote National Neighborhood Day’s mission and vision, we are hosting our second annual short film contest for both professional and amateur filmmakers to illustrate, through a film, 5-minutes or less, what a neighborhood that inspires them means to them. The deadline for entries is June 15, 2006.

Film entries will be judged by a panel of renowned filmmakers, including:

• Terry Sanders–two-time Academy Award winner, including the 1995 award for co-producer on the documentary, “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision”, a film about the work of the artist most famous for her monuments such as the Vietnam Memorial Wall and the Civil Rights Fountain Memorial;
  
• Gregg Hale - producer and filmmaker of the “Blair Witch Project”; and
  
• Rick Smith - film and television veteran whose credits include True Lies with Arnold Swartzenegger, Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, Amistad directed by Stephen Spielberg, Dumb and Dumber, and Something about Mary.

Finalists will be selected for full jury review and cash awards will be granted in two categories – Adult and Youth (K-12). The Adult category will award a Grand Prize of $2,000 and the Youth category will award a Grand Prize of $2,000. In addition, a Special Jury Award of $2,000 will be open to all entrants.

Click here for full Contest Rules

Adult Category:
Click here to download a poster announcing the short film contest.
Click here to download an Adult entry form.

Youth (K-12) Category:
Click here to download a poster announcing the short film contest.
Click here to download a Youth entry form.

~~~~ CONTEST RULES ~~~~

1. Deadline: All submissions are due on or before June 15, 2006. None will be accepted after this date.
2. Announcements: Finalists selected for full jury review will be announced and contacted on July 20, 2006. Winners in each category will be announced and contacted on August 31, 2006. Judge's decisions are final.
3. Entry Fee: There is no entry fee for the Youth Category. For the Adult Category, a $25.00 entry fee must be submitted with the film and can be paid by check or money order made payable to “National Neighborhood Day". No cash will be accepted.
4. Adult Eligibility: To be eligible in the Adult Category, you must complete the entry form and sign it stating that you own the film.
5. Youth Eligibility: To be eligible in the Youth Category, you must be under the age of 18 (as of June 15, 2006) or still in high school, and send along a copy of a birth certificate, school ID or other document as proof of age or enrollment. You also must complete the entry form and sign it indicating that you own the film. If you are under 18 (as of June 15, 2006), your parent/guardian must also sign the entry form indicating permission for you to enter the contest . Films entered in the K-12 category must be made by K-12 aged or enrolled students.  Adults may assist but the film must be primarily the work product of the student(s).
6. Releases and Copyrighted Material: All entrants invited to be a finalist must sign and submit a release form (for K-12 entrants a parent or guardian must sign) that will be distributed with the Finalist notification letter. If your film contains any copyrighted material (music for example) the filmmaker will be responsible for securing the licensing rights. (To avoid the expense and difficulty of securing such rights we recommend using only original, non-copyrighted material or material licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license).
7. Prizes: There is a Grand Prize in both the Adult and Youth categories, and a Special Jury Award open to all applicants. The Grand Prizes will be awarded to the film that captures the filmmaker’s understanding of neighborhood in a manner that sets it apart from other entries. The Special Jury Award will be given to the film that the judges believe captures the filmmaker’s understanding of neighborhood in a unique way and that has the qualities and circumstances that deserve special attention and merit. Prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the judges: not all prizes have to be awarded in all categories.
   Adult Category: Grand Prize - $2,000
   Youth Category: Grand Prize - $2,000
   Special Jury Award: Prize - $2,000
   Only one prize allowed per filmmaker.
8. Film Content:Your film should illustrate what neighborhood means to you – how and why it inspires you. Films must be about a neighborhood located in the continental United States, Hawaii or Alaska. Focus your creativity on making a film that recognizes and reinforces the neighborhood relationships that form the fabric of our communities. The film is not meant to be a political statement, nor a film designed to advance a cause or program. The film should not have an agenda, or be a mission statement. It may result in that, but that cannot be its purpose. It should be a film that is focused on expressing a feeling about a place, a sense of place, a mood - a film that looks at how your understanding of neighborhood influences your life.
9. Film Type: Entries may be documentaries, fictional pieces, animation or any combination thereof.
10. Film Length: All films must have a total running time of 5 minutes or less (not including credits).
11. Film Format: We will accept your film submission on Mini-DV, VHS or DVD only, regardless of original shooting format. No films will be returned, so please keep a copy. DVD’s must be playable on US consumer grade DVD players. DVD’s must not include labels or stickers on the DVD, please use a black Sharpie pen to write the Project Title and Contact name on the DVD. Foreign language films are acceptable only if subtitled or dubbed in English...do not send English translated scripts with your film. No PAL format... only NTSC if sending VHS. For DVDs, send converted/playable for Region Code 1 (North America) or Region Code 0 (universal). Do not send rough cuts or temp prints. We reserve the right to ask for resubmissions.
12. Student or Group Films: Student films made with funding from a university or other institution are welcome, but if the school or institution holds the rights to the film, they will need to sign the entry form giving permission for the film to be submitted in this contest. Group films (films submitted with more than one filmmaker) are welcome, though each individual filmmaker must submit a separate entry form along with the single submission of the film. If the film was made as a class project for the Youth Category, the teacher or school administrator will need to sign an entry form, as well as include one signed by each student along with his/her parent/guardian if he/she is under 18.
13. Permissions for National Neighborhood Day Use: All entry materials will be kept by National Neighborhood Day. All winners’ and finalists’ entries may be used in whole or in part to promote National Neighborhood Day (NND) and future NND contests. These promotions may include television PSA’s, radio PSA’s, or streaming video on NND’s website or that of one of its partner organizations. By signing the permissions section on the entry form, you give NND the right to use your film in this important way.