The Sixth Annual Saxxy Awards!

It's time once again to announce this year's Saxxy Awards, and we couldn't be more excited! Last year we shook up the rules a bit by reducing the length of the themed categories (Action, Comedy, Drama) and adding a five-minute Extended category. This year we're letting things settle, to give everyone a chance to adapt to the new format. We were overwhelmed with so many incredibly high-quality entries to the Extended category last year, there were some great entries that didn't get the recognition they deserved. If you're working on an entry to the Extended category, it may be worth reevaluating whether you could edit your piece down to three minutes, and submit to one of the themed categories instead. We value solid editing and every year there are good entries that could have been great, if only they had been edited down to carve off a minute. (or two!) We won't pretend that's an easy task, but we've found that our videos have benefitted from being pretty brutal in the edit, trimming frames, shots and sometimes whole sequences. Some of our favorite gags have ended up on the cutting room floor, and made the piece as a whole better in the end.

As always, we can't wait to see what variety of amazing videos you create! Don't forget that all Valve universes are available for use, and SFM shorts that were submitted to the Dota Short Film Contest are also eligible for this year's Saxxy Awards. The submission deadline is November 11th, but as always, we'd like to remind you that you can upload non-final versions up to a week in advance of the final deadline, to guard against last-minute computer failures, internet outages, YouTube login problems, etc. Check out the guidelines for details on the rules and deadlines, and get your entries ready!