AMV Contest at NDK

Our AMV Contest is very popular and it always fills our huge main events room to capacity, so be sure to get in line early so you can get a good seat! And in case you miss the first showing on Saturday afternoon, we’ll replay the contest on Sunday morning. Be sure to check out the AMV Contest Award Ceremony later on Sunday where we’ll replay the winning videos, and where the winning editors will receive their beautiful Asuka statues.

Contest Categories

Often imitated but never duplicated, our AMV Contest entries are divided into the following categories:

  • Category X — Creative, artistic, unique and visually striking videos.
  • Action/Adventure — Exciting and energy filled videos.
  • Drama/Romance — Videos that give us the feels, both happy and sad.
  • Comedy/Parody — Funny, amusing and quirky videos go here!
  • Upbeat/Dance — Videos that put you in a good mood or make you want to dance!

Anime Music Videos

Anime music videos (or AMVs) are the creations of passionate individuals with an interest in video editing and a love for music and anime. Our annual AMV Contest showcases the amazing skills of our community of editors, and it’s quickly become one of the top AMV contests in the country!

    Submit a Video

    Submissions for our World Class AMV competition are now open! Click here to submit your videos! The submission deadline is August 16th, 2025.

    Prizes

    The audience will cast their votes by ballot for their favorite videos in each category, as well as their pick for Best of Show. In addition, attending AMV editors will select their own Best of Show winner, and the AMV judging staff will honor a standout creator with the Best Local Editor award. All of these winners will receive the coveted Asuka Award. A special award will also be presented to recognize the best video utilizing video game footage.

    AMV Contest Rules

    Please read through all of these rules before submitting your video!

    Submitting a video does not guarantee a spot in our contest as we receive quite a few entries and can only show so many during our roughly 2 hour run time.

     

    This contest is open world-wide to anyone who loves to make AMVs! This contest is NON-EXCLUSIVE meaning that you can send videos that were made for or sent to other contests. If there are any questions, please feel free to e-mail your questions to the AMV coordinator.

     

    1. Videos must be at least 70% Japanese anime to qualify. You may include live action or non-anime footage, but the majority of the video must feature Japanese-origin anime content.
    2. Videos using video game footage are welcome and encouraged!
    3. Original works are also welcome, but should be anime-styled or clearly influenced by Japanese animation.
    4. If your video is not a VGA or original animation, it must primarily focus on Japanese anime or manga. While we recognize that the definition of “anime” can be broad, for this contest, we specifically require content animated or produced in Japan. Therefore, series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY, Castlevania, and anime made in China or Korea do not qualify and will be disqualified.
    5. Videos created using AI-generated visuals or animation are not permitted.
    6. Multi-Editor Projects and collaborations are welcome. However, only the editor who submits the video will be eligible to receive any awards.
    7. Do not resubmit any videos that have been entered into previous NDK AMV contests.
    8. Keep your videos PG-13. No explicit content, nudity, or excessive violence. If you wouldn’t show it to your younger sibling or a family audience, it probably doesn’t belong here.
    9. Each participant may submit up to five (5) entries. All submissions must be completed and submitted by the official deadline.
    10. You must be the original creator of the video you’re submitting. Submitting someone else’s work is considered plagiarism and will result in permanent disqualification. We take pride in supporting our creators and honoring the time, passion, and effort they put into their work.
    11. To keep our contest lineup fresh and exciting, videos released before August 31st, 2024 are not eligible for submission.
    Categories and Prizes

    Audience Selection– Audiences will be provided with ballots at the event and asked to vote for their favorite videos in each category:

     

    Category X

    Action/Adventure

    Drama/Romance

    Comedy/Parody

    Upbeat/Fun

    Best In Show Audience Choice

     

    Editors in Attendance: Editors who are in attendance and who present their badge earned from submitting an AMV to the contest that year will receive a specially marked ballot that will allow them to vote in the following category:

    Best in Show Editor’s Choice

     

    Staff Selection – These videos are pre-judged prior to the event by various members of the NDK staff. Voting during the contest does not affect these videos and winners can also be selected from the pool shown during the Overload event.

     

    Best Video Game Video

    Best Local Video

    Video Technical Requirements

    Accepted Resolutions

    The preferred resolutions for videos submitted to the contest are 1280×720 or 1920×1080. Other resolutions will be accepted, but please understand that lower resolutions may lead to unacceptable artifacts when projected on to a large screen.

    Please note that if you’re using older sources or sources that display at a 4:3 resolution (fullscreen) then you are not required to upscale or alter your videos.

     

    Framerate

    23.976 / 24 fps, 29.97 / 30 fps, or 59.97 / 60 fps

     

    Audio

    Uncompressed audio is preferable. 224 kbps or higher, avoid variable audio bit rates.

     

    Video

    Videos should be encoded with sufficient bitrate so as to not add any noticeable artifacts. Space is not in shortage, so go big. Interlaced video is strongly discouraged as it typically looks poor on modern displays. Variable frame rate encoding is strongly discouraged due to inconsistent playback among editors and players.

     

    Accepted File Types

    MP4 or MKV are preferred but we will also accept AVI or WMV.

    Time Limit

    We request videos shorter than 7 minutes but we have made exceptions in the past for videos we’ve deemed worthy of the extra time provided. These decisions are made by the judging staff on a case by case basis.

    Title Bumpers
    Please try to provide a creditless version of your video. We create custom bumpers for each video and category in an attempt to create a “clean” and uniform contest.
    We understand some contests require you to create bumpers for your videos to be submit and while you’re welcome to submit those videos we do request you remove the bumpers first.
    If you send a video with titles and credits included please note that our editors on staff will edit them out to the best of their ability.
    So if you don’t want us to cut them off for you please, please cut or remove them from your video prior to submission.

    WARNING: If your submission has macroblocking, logos, subtitles, interlacing, or is downright painful to look at, it can and most likely WILL be disqualified. If your submission has macroblocking, logos, subtitles, interlacing, or is downright painful to look at, it can and most likely WILL be disqualified. We will be emailing entrants about any type of playback issues as soon as the video has been reviewed, in hopes of having it corrected for resubmission. We’re not trying to be mean, but due to the large number of videos we’ve had to disqualify due to quality issues, we have been given no choice but to implement this rule. And remember! We’re willing to help! We want to see you get better, so don’t hesitate to e-mail with your questions!

    Submit a Video

    AMV Submissions OPEN NOW until August 16th!!!

    Click here to submit your videos!

    We ONLY accept entries via the submission form linked above.

    All video submissions must be accompanied with appropriate video and editor contact information. Failure to provide full information can lead to disqualification of one or all of your videos. Pay close attention to the information you’re entering, otherwise your video may end up on the big screen, complete with spelling errors and incorrect information!

      Note: If submitting a multi-editor project (MEP) please list all the creators in the MEP section of the entry form. Wouldn’t want your friends to be left out!