The Escapist presents the third annual The Escapist Film Festival.

Beginning October 12th, The Escapist will present the best amateur and user-created videos from around the web, and one lucky film maker will receive a grand prize of an exclusive talent contract with The Escapist. Last year's Film Festival had so many great submissions, we had two Grand Prize Winners: Graham Stark and Paul Saunders, stars of Unskippable and Michael Shanks, creator of Doomsday Arcade.

New to the Film Festival are 5 new prize categories: Best Animated Short, Most Original Concept, Best Music Video, Best Mashup and the Viewer Choice Award. The winner of each category will be granted a limited edition badge for their profile on The Escapist and a prize pack!

If you're a video creator and want to contribute a film to The Escapist's 3rd Annual Film Festival, please follow these instructions:

To Submit

To submit your video, visit the following submission page: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/submit/116. You will be asked to enter your Title, Description and Tags. Upon completion, you will be forwarded to an upload page. Browse for your file and click "Upload". Once your video is submitted, you will be notified if there were any errors and asked to submit it again. If there aren't any errors, your video was successfully submitted. Failure to enter any of these properly will result in automatic dismissal.

What are we looking for?

• Subject - Is the subject matter interesting to readers of The Escapist?
• Creativity - Is it fresh and unique?
• Longevity - Will this remain funny/interesting/relevant over time?
• Polish - Make it shine, people!

What are we NOT looking for?

• Nudity - Just. Don't. Do. It. We beg you.
• Copyrighted material - Stealing is naughty.
• Sex acts (simulated or actual) - See above nudity clause.
• Commercial advertisements - Yawn.
• From the suits - Acts prohibited under law in any national, state or local jurisdiction in which The Escapist website may be viewed.

After you've created your masterpiece, upload the video on our site to our video player no later than noon ET on December 9th. Voting for the Viewer's Choice will start on December 11th and last through Thursday, December 17th. All winners will be announced on Friday, December 18th.

And some general rules for your video-creating pleasure:

• Videos must be no longer than 5:00 minutes in length.
• All actors or participants must be of age, and have consented to appear by filling out and signing a consent form such as THIS ONE. If a participant is not of age, they must have their parent or guardian fill out and sign their consent form. Copies of all participants' consent forms must be made available to Themis Media upon request.
• Videos submitted to The Escapist Film Festival must be the exclusive property of the contest entrant and have never before appeared or been broadcast in any form anywhere.
• All videos submitted to The Escapist become property of The Escapist. The Escapist reserves all rights to publication, re-publication and distribution.
• Minimum Quality of Entries: If, in the sole determination of the judges, no contest entry is of the quality and standard required for publication on The Escapist, then none of the entrants shall be awarded a contract, and that portion of the prize is waived. All other prizes shall still be delivered.

Prize Categories

Best Video: Series Content deal with The Escapist
The best overall web video across all categories, specially selected by The Escapist judging panel to become the next video series at the Escapist.

Best Animated Short: $200 Amazon Gift Card and The Escapist Swag Pack
The best short, animated web video.

Most Original Concept: $200 Amazon Gift Card and The Escapist Swag Pack
The video exhibiting the best new idea or original concept.

Best Music Video: $200 Amazon Gift Card and The Escapist Swag Pack
Best use of music in a video, or video made to accompany a musical composition.

Best Mashup: $200 Amazon Gift Card and The Escapist Swag Pack
Best video in "mash-up" style- a combination of two or more pieces of content.

Viewer's Choice: $200 Amazon Gift Card and The Escapist Swag Pack
Winner selected by The Escapist viewers.

How To Enter

In order to enter, you need to be logged in. Don't have an account? No problem, they're free - just click on the register link below!

Username:   Password:

Not registered? Sign up for a free account!

Legal Stuff

By participating in this contest, contestants grant Themis Group, Inc. the right to print, publish, broadcast and use worldwide in any media now known or hereafter developed, including, without limitation, the World Wide Web, at any time or times, the contestant's name, as news or for public information and education without additional consideration or compensation. Any entry becomes the property of Themis Group, Inc. and will not be returned. Entrants surrender copyright and all interests therein of their submissions to Themis Group, Inc. with the understanding that the materials may be used for promotional purposes.

By participating in the contest, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to Themis Group, Inc.'s privacy policy.

Employees of Themis Group, Inc., and its subsidiaries or affiliates, and any family members and/or household members of these employees, are excluded from the contest.

Entrants release Themis Group, Inc. and its respective parent divisions, affiliates, officers, subsidiaries, agents, employees and all others associated with the development and execution of this giveaway from and against any liability with respect to or in any way arising from this contest and the awarding and use of the prizes.

Tampering with the giveaway in any manner is prohibited. Themis Group, Inc. reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to determine whether the contest has been tampered with. Themis Group, Inc. reserves the right to disqualify any entrant it suspects or has determined, in its sole discretion, has tampered with the promotion or submitted multiple entries. If Themis Group, Inc. determines that the contest has been tampered with, it reserves the right to terminate the contest without awarding any prizes. Themis Group, Inc. shall not be responsible for any entry not received due to network outages; failed, incomplete, garbled, or delayed computer transmissions; online failures; hardware, software or other technical malfunctions or disturbances; or any other communications or transmission failure.

Participation in any part of the Themis Group, Inc.'s "3rd Annual The Escapist Film Festival" implies an understanding and acceptance of these rules and regulations.

Void where prohibited.