Wine Spectator Video Contest 2009: Rules, Prizes, Specs

Got a wine story? Enjoy making videos? Submit your video here

Posted: May 21, 2009

What are we looking for?

The videos should be educational and entertaining as well as short and non-commercial.

The subjects could be interviews with winemakers, chefs or sommeliers, tours of wineries, tastings of selected wines or simply adventures with wine. (For examples and inspiration, see the free videos posted each week at WineSpectator.com or see the finalists from last year's video contest.)

The deadline for all entries is Monday, August 31, 2009, at midnight EDT.

Judging

Picking the Finalists: Wine Spectator editors will select the best videos, which will be posted at WineSpectator.com on Monday, September 14, 2009.

Picking the Winner: Visitors to WineSpectator.com will vote for their favorite video during the voting period, which runs Monday, September 14, through Monday morning, September 21. The video with the most votes will be the winner.

Announcing the Winner: The second- and third-place videos will be revealed on Monday, September 21, at WineSpectator.com. The top video will be revealed on Tuesday, September 22. Honorable Mention videos will also be revealed on September 22.

Prizes

1. The creator of the winning video will receive two complimentary registrations to the Wine Experience in New York City on October 22 through 24, 2009. The winning video may be shown as part of the official program.

2. The finalists, as chosen by our editors, will each receive two tickets to one of the Grand Tastings at the Wine Experience in New York City on October 22 or 23, 2009. If they are unable to make that date, finalists may attend any one of the 2010 Grand Tour Tastings (dates and locations TBD). Finalists' videos will be posted at WineSpectator.com.

3. Everyone who submits a video judged by our editors as a valid submission will receive their choice of either a one-year subscription to WineSpectator.com or any course at Wine Spectator School. (Only one per entrant.)

The Rules

1. Videos must be a minimum of 45 seconds long and must not exceed 3 minutes.
2. The entrant and all persons appearing in the video must be 21 years of age or older.
3. Videos must not contain any copyrighted material (including copyrighted background music).
4. Videos must be the entrant's original creation.
5. Videos cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Wine Spectator.
6. Wine Spectator is not responsible for any wine reviews or opinions contained in entrants' videos.
7. Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.
8. If your video includes persons other than yourself, you must have consent from those persons to appear in your video and in this contest.
9. Wine Spectator reserves the right to reject, not to use or make available for public viewing, or at any time remove any video that Wine Spectator finds unsuitable for any reason at its sole discretion.
10. Multiple entries are allowed, but each entrant can receive only one Wine Experience or Grand Tour prize, as well as one subscription or one course.
11. All videos become the property of Wine Spectator and may be used for promotional purposes.

Technical specifications

The video file size must be no larger than 100MB.

To upload your video to Brightcove, your computer should be running one of these platforms:

• Windows: WinXP, WinXP SP2, Win2000
• Mac: MacOSx 10.2 and later

• Windows browsers: IE 6, IE 7, Firefox 1.5, Firefox 2.0
• Mac browsers: Safari, IE, Firefox

We accept these video file formats:

• 3GP, .AVI, .DV, h.264, .MPEG2, .MPEG4, Quicktime, .WMV

How to submit your video

1. Create an account below to access the upload tool. It's free and fast.
2. In the upload tool that appears, browse your computer to select your video.
3. Give your video a short title.
4. Give your video a brief description, telling us what it's about. Remember to include your name, e-mail address and phone number, along with all the stars' names.
5. Assign a few "tags" or keywords for your video (winery, region, topic, etc.).
6. Upload your file.

If you have any questions, e-mail us at video@winespectator.com.

Note: If the upload tool says that it's currently unavailable, please refresh this page and try again.