Competition Introduction and Important Information

  1. Objectives:
    • We’re keen to select outstanding short films that capture the societal beauty or cultural ambiance unique to Taiwan, featuring inspiring local stories or ephemeral moments of beauty that you think would appeal to an international audience.
    • In addition to Creative Theme Categroy and the Student Special Category of short videos no longer than 3 minutes in length, we are introducing a new Reel-style Short Video Categroy to encourage reel/short style(9:16) vertical submissions of 60 seconds or less in length.
  2. Criteria:
    • There is no age limit or restriction based on nationality. The competition is open to everyone. There is no registration fee.
    • Those under the age of 18 require a letter of consent from their legal guardian.
    • Those invited to serve as judges for the competition may not enter the competition.
    • Units under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not eligible to enter the competition.
    • The works submitted shall be original and have never received any award at any other public competition and/or selection.
    • Criteria for Special Student Category:
      Students enrolled at institutions accredited by the R.O.C. Ministry of Education at the time of registration are eligible to submit under this category. The criteria is applicable to all team members. Student entrants must email: trendingtaiwan2023@gmail.com with proof of enrollment. The subject line of the email should read: "2023潮台灣_submission’s name_學生團隊之佐證文件."
  3. Submission Period: July 20 – September 30, 2023 (before 23:59:59 Taipei time)
  4. How to Submit: (Note: All entries must be uploaded. DVDs sent by mail will not be accepted)
    • Step 1: Upload the video in the required format to your personal YouTube channel.
    • Step 2: Click the “Submit” button on the official website.
    • Step 3: Fill out the registration information including, entrant name and/or team name (including names of individual team members) and bios, filmmakers’ nationality (tick either ROC or foreign nationality), film theme (no more than 300 words), and film URL. The consent box for the competition rules in the registration process must be ticked.
  5. Results Announcement:
    • October 19, 2023 (Thur.): the names of the 40 shortlisted submissions will be announced on the event website.
    • October 31, 2023 (Tues.): The list of winners will be announced at an awards ceremony. There will be 16 winners, who will be required to sign a copyright authorization agreement.
  6. Awards Ceremony: October 31, 2023 (Tues).
  7. Winner Announced on Website: November 2, 2023 (Thu).
  8. Film Requirements:
        9. Creative Theme Categroy

    • Subject matter and setting: Taiwan should be the subject matter or main backdrop for the film, and the works should tell a local story or portray a moment of beauty that will resonate with international audiences.

    • Film duration: Submissions (including the opening, the primary content and the credits) should not exceed three minutes, based on the YouTube broadcast time. Submissions exceeding the duration limitations will be disqualified without notice.

    • The film’s aspect ratio should be 16:9.

    • There are no requirements for the type or brand of camera equipment to be used in the making of the film, however, a minimum resolution of 1080x1920 is required.

    • When uploading the film to YouTube please title it following the format below: Film name – 2023 Trending Taiwan, e.g., ‘I Just Love Taiwan - 2023 Trending Taiwan’. Both the Chinese "潮台灣" and English "Trending Taiwan" logos must be embedded throughout the video. The logos can be downloaded here.

        • Reel-style Short Video Categroy

    • Subject matter and setting: Taiwan should be the subject matter or main backdrop for the film, and the works should tell a local story or portray a moment of beauty that will resonate with international audiences.

    • Film duration: Submissions (including the opening, the primary content and the credits) should not exceed 60 seconds in length, based on the YouTube broadcast time. Submissions exceeding the duration limitations will be disqualified without notice.

    • The video’s aspect ratio should be 9:16.

    • There are no requirements for the type or brand of camera equipment to be used in the making of the film, however, a minimum resolution of 1080x1920 is required.

    • When uploading the film to YouTube please title it following the format below: Film name –《潮台灣短影音》, e.g., ‘Love Taiwan - 《潮台灣短影音》’. Both the Chinese "潮台灣" and English "Trending Taiwan" logos must be embedded throughout the video. The logos can be downloaded here.

  9. Other Information:

    • Entrants are advised to consider the requirements for broadcasting on different platforms during the film-making process and should leave space for foreign language subtitles and the font of any text used should be sized appropriately for viewing comfort, mainly on mobile phones.

    • Panorama VR submissions are welcome but are not a requirement for the competition. Entrants are encouraged to be creative and choose innovative subject matters.

    • Films with themes involving interactions between Taiwanese people and individuals from the New Southbound Policy(NSP) target countries including ASEAN member states, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, New Zealand, and Australia are strongly encouraged.

    • In the event of any violation of the competition rules, any infringement, and/or any other illegalities, the organizer reserves the right to disqualify the entry and recover the awarded prize; for details on copyright rules please refer to the Copyright License Agreement on the event page.

    • If more than half of the judges are in agreement, the organizer may choose to "not award" or increase the number of places in other categories based on the quality of submissions and the judging process.

    • The organizer reserves the right to determine if any of the works submitted have participated in any other selections in addition to this competition, whether there have been any duplicate submissions, whether any work submitted has already been awarded but has then been adapted, edited, and/or rehashed for this competition, and/or whether there is any forgery, fraudulence, or illegitimacy. In the event of any of the aforementioned violations or issues, the organizer may disqualify any entrant and revoke any award won, and the organizer reserves the right to prosecute. Upon registration, entrants shall check the box, stating "I understand the competition rules and shall agree to abide by the Copyright License Agreement herein."
    • Participation in the competition shall be considered acceptance of all the activities and related rules of the competition. Any violation of the competition rules is subject to disqualification from the competition and its awards, and the organizer reserves the right to prosecute any violation.
    • The organizer shall use the personal data provided by entrants only for the purpose of this event and shall abide by the Personal Data Protection Act to protect entrants’ rights. Participation in the competition shall be considered acceptance of the organizer’s collection, processing and other use of entrants’ personal data for the sole purpose of this event. Entrants also hereby authorize the organizer to publicize their names.