Vimeo has opened submissions for the second Vimeo Festival + Awards, which celebrates the most creative and original videos online, as well as the individuals who make them. Vimeo will award grants of $5,000 to all of the category winners as well as awarding a grant of $25,000 for the Grand Prize winner.

“Since our inaugural event, we have watched online video explode into a primary medium for new talent discovery,” said Jeremy Boxer, Director of the Vimeo Festival + Awards. “More and more creators earn visibility, credibility and, ultimately, work by showcasing their videos online. We created the Vimeo Festival + Awards to celebrate the best of the best of these videos.”

Beginning now through February 20, 2012, filmmakers can submit their works for consideration in one of 13 different judged categories. With the continued exponential growth of quality online video, Vimeo is recognizing four new categories:

• Fashion: Fashion photographers are exploring creative filmmaking, blurring the line between fashion and art. Similarly, designers are able to bring to life the mood and inspiration behind their collections in greater detail and with more emotion than through still photos.
• Action Sports: As lightweight, durable, and wearable HD cameras have become more accessible, adventurers, athletes, and documentarians can go anywhere while filming it all.
• Advertising: Due to the high volume of content online, advertisers have been forced to become increasingly creative in order to reach audiences. As a result, many people now seek out commercial films as standalone entertainment.
• Lyrical: This category celebrates videos that showcase the natural world or personal experience using a dramatic creative style. With filmmaking techniques such as slow motion and time lapse now increasingly available, these videos provide thought-provoking and oftentimes heart-wrenching windows into other people’s worlds.

A full list of the video categories can be found at www.vimeo.com/awards.

An independent jury will judge entries, which includes all of the category winners from 2010 as well as two industry luminaries/experts per category. Vimeo released the following jury members for its newest categories: Stacy Peralta for Action Sports, David Droga for Advertising, Nick Knight for Fashion, and Phillip Bloom for Lyrical. Vimeo plans to release the full jury in January.

Vimeo will accept submissions from December 13, 2011 through February 20, 2012 for a $20 (U.S.) fee per video ($5 for Vimeo Plus and PRO members) at www.vimeo.com/awards. Entrants can submit any original work that premiered anywhere online between July 31, 2010 and February 20, 2012 or any original work that has never been premiered before.

All entries must comply with the Official Rules of the Vimeo Festival + Awards. For more information on the Vimeo Festival + Awards, please visit www.vimeo.com/awards.

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