Award FAQ's

Explanations & FAQ's about the National & State Awards for Cinematography

Membership Status
T's & C's
The Awards System
The Awards
Judging Panel
Award Categories
Multicamera Newsgathering
Terms and Conditions

Membership Status

Please note that to enter these awards you must be a current financial member of the Australian Cinematographers Society and your entry must have been completed within two years of the awards date.

Non-members can enter the awards, but it is a condition of entry that you join the society and pay membership fees prior to the entry being accepted for Judging.

T's & C's

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND SIGN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ENTRY ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE ENTRY FORM. FAILURE TO COMPLY MAY INVALIDATE YOUR ENTRY

The Awards System

The ACS awards system is a National system with awards representing members from all states and territories held in the latter half of each year in four capital cities:

Sydney – representing members of NSW and the ACT branches

Melbourne – representing members of Victoria and Tasmania branches

Adelaide – representing members of SA and the WA branches

Brisbane – representing members of Queensland and the NT branch

The Awards

In these State Awards one or more Gold, Silver and Highly Commended awards may be presented in each category at the discretion of the judging panel in each state. The judging panel also has the right to give no awards in any category where the entries received are not considered to be of a high enough standard.

In the first half of the year following the State Awards the society will hold its National Awards. The Gold Award winners from each of the previous year’s State Awards will make up the entries for these National Awards. Direct entries are NOT accepted into the National Awards. One Golden Tripod winner will be selected from the entries in each category. The judges may also award one or more Awards of Distinction in each category. The Milli Award for ‘Cinematographer of the Year’ will be chosen from all the Golden Tripod winners.

Judging Panel

All the judging panels are made up of Accredited members of the society with at least one panel member being from a state other than the host state.

The National Awards judging panel is made up of Accredited representatives from each of the host states.

THE JUDGES RESERVE THE RIGHT TO RE-CATEGORISE ANY ENTRY THEY BELIEVE HAS BEEN ENTERED INTO THE WRONG CATEGORY.

All judges’ decisions are final and binding and no discussions or correspondence will be entered into.

Award Categories

(for entry fees consult your local state entry form as these may vary between states)

CAT.1 - STUDENT CINEMATOGRAPHY

Productions shot by student members of the society. These may be as part of their student training or any ‘off slate’ productions shot whilst the member is still a bona-fide student cinematographer attending a college or institution. The winners will be entered into the National Awards to compete for the ‘Best Student Cinematographer’ award but will not be eligible for the ‘Milli Award’.

CAT.2 - EXPERIMENTAL AND SPECIALISED

Entries must be experimental cinematography as distinct from experimental films.

Specialised cinematography includes, but is not limited to, micro/macro, medical, engineering etc. Specialised portions only of productions may be entered into this category. Entries in this category may also be entered into another category.

CAT.3 - TV STATION BREAKS AND PROMOS

Includes station IDs, openers and closers of all kinds.

CAT.4 - MUSIC CLIPS

Short musical items shot for the purpose of entertainment or for promotional reasons. Entrants must specify if they were totally responsible for the lighting. They should also indicate what their involvement was with any CGI done in post production.

CAT.5 - SINGLE CAMERA NEWSGATHERING

Hard news items of an immediate nature shot by a single cinematographer under the time constraints of a daily news service. Multi Camera entrants cannot isolate their footage and also enter in this category.

CAT.6 - MULTI-CAMERA NEWSGATHERING

Hard news items of an immediate nature shot by a team of two or more cinematographers under the constraints of a daily news service. Each person in the team must be a member of the society. Winners will be entered into the National Awards and will be eligible to win a Golden Tripod but will not be eligible to compete for the ‘Milli Award’. Entrants in this category cannot enter their same work into CAT.5

CAT.7 - NEWS MAGAZINE

Magazine style news items screened as part of a daily news service but of a less immediate nature than a hard news story.

CAT.8 - TV MAGAZINE

Material in the genre of, but not limited to, infotainment or lifestyle and reality programs. This category may also include items of a shorter nature that make up part of a longer program other than current affairs.

CAT.9 - CURRENT AFFAIRS

Items suitable for ongoing current affairs type programs. Entrants must name the program in which the entry was screened.

CAT.10 - WILDLIFE AND NATURE

Productions relating to flora and fauna, the environment and the balance of ecology. Portions of entries in this category may also be eligible for consideration in CAT.2

CAT.11 - COMMERCIALS RETAIL

Advertising productions aimed more at the regional television and retail market.

CAT.12 - COMMERCIALS CORPORATE

Advertising productions for cinema and television of a generally more complex nature than CAT.11. The judges reserve the right to re-categorise entries in these commercial categories if they believe the entry is mis-represented.

CAT.13 - CORPORATE PRODUCTIONS

Productions of a corporate promotional nature. These may include ‘in-house’ productions not designed for general release.

CAT.14 - TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL

Productions which are designed to directly inform or educate. As for CAT.13 these may include ‘in-house’ productions not designed for general release.

CAT.15 - DOCUMENTARIES, CINEMA AND TV

‘Traditional’ documentary productions dealing with any aspect of man in relation to his environment and not involving actors.

CAT.16 - DRAMATISED DOCUMENTARIES

Documentaries based on real life situations or re-enactments of actual events and involving actors who are controlled by a Director.

CAT.17 - FICTIONAL DRAMA SHORTS, CINEMA AND TV

Short dramatized productions intended for cinema or television release which do not qualify as cinema features or telefeatures.

CAT.18 - TELEFEATURES, TV DRAMA AND MINI-SERIES

Productions intended solely for television release. Entries can be any one episode from a series. Pilots are not eligible.

CAT.19 - FEATURES – CINEMA

Feature productions intended for cinema release.

Multicamera Newsgathering

The subject of entrants in this category coming from different states has arisen due to the international nature of some of the 2005 news items. As Multi-Camera entries are a collaborative effort THE ENTRANTS WILL HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH STATE AWARDS THEY ARE GOING TO ENTER INTO. They CAN ONLY ENTER IN ONE STATE AWARDS. They must also all be members of the society but, in this particular case, do not necessarily ALL have to be a member of the state branch in which this category is entered. Only one needs to be.

The other option is a single camera entry in their own state. This would, of course, negate a multi-camera entry of the same story including that individual in another, or their own, state awards.

Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions of Entry into All ACS Awards

Last updated on 20/05/2007 by ACS Webmaster

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