Competition Rules

  1. Note for Entrants:
    • The video submission (including any music used within it) must be an original work created by the participating individual or group, or have been licensed for entry in the competition by the original creator.
    • Entrants must ensure that they own the copyright to the work. No copyright-infringing imagery, video or music (including partial images) may be used. Plagiarism or the replication of other people's work is prohibited. The organizer will not be liable for any legal repercussions from disputes over right of portrait, right of fame, privacy rights, copyright and trademark rights.
    • The content of the entered work must be proactive, healthy and positive. Contentious ethnic, religious, gender, political and cultural issues should be avoided. There must be no obscenity, violence, blood, defamation, personal attacks, violations of privacy, offenses against good taste and public order, or violations of national laws.
    • The organizer may add foreign language subtitles to winning works for the purpose of international promotion.
    • Winning submissions to the competition, including the first-place entry, placed entries, as well as other outstanding entries, will be re-uploaded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Trending Taiwan Facebook and YouTube accounts for exhibition and other relevant purposes. If any submission to the competition cannot be uploaded to the Trending Taiwan channel due to a copyright infringement detected by YouTube, the filmmakers in question are required to proactively remove their submissions for the competition from YouTube.
    • The winners must consent to the competition organizer modifying or re-producing their winning submission for the purposes of international promotion. The organizer receives copyright to the winning film and derived works for transmission and public broadcast over domestic and overseas physical and virtual channels.
    • Prize-winning works are to be used for international promotional purposes. If, after the competition, it is necessary to correct any information that may be incorrect within the work, the sponsoring organization reserves the right to request the filmmaker to confirm the film’s contents as well as adjust word cards or subtitles where necessary. The creator must then provide a new file of the film. This is non-negotiable.
  2. Copyright declaration:

    3. In the event of disputes over the following issues, the organizer reserves the right to disqualify the submitted work and recover the awarded prize.

    • The organizer acquires the right to global unlimited use rights to the winning film for reproduction, distribution, publication, editing, modification, public narration, public broadcast, public screening, public performance, public transmission, public exhibition and DVD production along with all derived creative rights. The organizer may choose to provide foreign language subtitles for selected works and publicly promote all winning entries in any format including but not limited to compilation for publication, adaptation and broadcast as multimedia online plays, as well as marketing and broadcast on but not limited to the MOFA website, its affiliated social media accounts, the Cheers magazine and other platforms (e.g. TV, Facebook, Line or mobile phones).
    • The organizer owns the online broadcasting rights to all works and has the right to publish them all on digital platforms and websites related to the organizer, the Cheers magazine's website and printed magazine, and other relevant operations.
    • By completing the application process, participants consent to the rules of this competition.
    • The event organizer may, for domestic and overseas promotional purposes, ask the winners to provide the original audio-video files, subtitle transcripts, and compact disks, among others, of their works without returning what they provide. The winners shall therefore sign an agreement to authorize the organizer and any party authorized by the organizer, including both the juridical and natural persons bound by law to undertake business for the organizer, to publicly broadcast, perform, narrate, and exhibit the winning works as well as to reproduce and modify the winning works (including but not limited to conversion to compact disks and different languages) or partially edit such works.
    • If notified that the entered work's copyright is in dispute or is in violation of intellectual property rights, the work may be disqualified by the organizer; the entrant is liable for all legal repercussions and compensation arising from related disputes.
  3. Disclaimer on prize money:
    • Under the Income Tax Act of the Republic of China, if prize money exceeds NT$20,000, 10% in tax may be withheld by the organizer in accordance with the law and a further 2% in 2nd Generation NHI levy will be deducted as well. Award winners who are not residents of the R.O.C. shall have 20% in tax deducted in accordance with the law.
    • After the list of prize-winners is announced, the organizer will send a notification message to the prize winners’ email addresses. Please return the prize receipt and relevant documentation within the designated time (within five days, for both domestic and foreign winners), as well as the raw DVDs of the prize-winning short film both with and without subtitles. The makers of short films not awarded prizes will not be separately notified.
  4. Other information:
    • In the event of disputes over competition rules or copyright, the organizer reserves the right to disqualify an entered work and recover an awarded prize.
    • If more than half of the judges are in agreement, the organizer may choose "no award" or increase the number of places in other categories based on the performance and judging results of the entered works.
    • The organizer reserves the rights to revise the aforementioned rules.