Video & Entry Criteria

All videos must:

1. Be no less than three minutes and no more than 10 minutes in length.
2. Be owned by the entrant or the entrant must have written permission to use the footage by the owner of the footage. This applies to all submitted footage, including graphics, animations, and historical content.
3. Connect the viewer to the majesty of the underwater world. The connection is at the discretion of the creator and might include the unique ecology, ecosystem vulnerability, marine life inhabitants, or impact upon the entrant.
4. Focus on the underwater world with at least some scuba diving activity included.
5. Be H.264 in either .mp4 or .mov container and a minimum resolution of 1920x1080.
6. Be G-rated (pornographic, racist, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate videos will be automatically disqualified from competition).
7. Include music that is royalty-free, or music that the entrant has been granted the right to use the music for the intended purpose.
8. Be unique to this contest and must not have been previously submitted, distributed, aired, and/or must not have won any other award in any other competition.
9. If uploaded to YouTube it must be set to "unlisted". 

All entries must:

1. Be submitted between February 5, 2020 and November 30, 2021, to be considered and must use the online webform.
2. Include a description of 100-250 words introducing the video and its contents, including any divers’ names who appear in the film. 
3. Include an author’s biography of 50-100 words.

Videos will be judged by the following criteria:

1. Creativity
2. Message clarity and relevance
3. Motivation and inspiration
4. Overall impact
5. Editing and filming skills

Eligibility Requirements

1. The contest is open to all applicants 18 years of age or older at the time of contest entry. Younger creators are welcome to transfer rights to a legal adult who can submit on their behalf.
2. Employees of Global Underwater Explorers, members of the immediate families (defined as spouse, child, sibling, parent, or grandparent), and members of the households (whether related or not) of any of the above are NOT eligible to participate in this contest.
3. Participants agree to abide by applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Submission Guidelines

1. Only one entry per person is permitted; subsequent entries will not be considered.
2. Groups wishing to enter the contest may do so, but groups must identify a single individual as part of the submission process. All prizes will be transferred to that individual for disbursement to the group as appropriate. GUE is not responsible for distributing prizes to anyone other than the single individual named in the application.
3. No purchase necessary. The contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
4. Global Underwater Explorers retains the right to disqualify any contestant if the rules are not followed.
5. Any information collected by registering to enter the contest shall be used only in a manner consistent with these Contest Rules.
6. If the contest is not able to run as planned, without limitation, Global Underwater Explorers reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or modify the contest at their discretion. 
7. By submitting a video for the contest you are agreeing to have the video published and promoted by Global Underwater Explorers through GUE.tv and their other marketing channels.
8. All appropriate videos submitted, even those that did not receive a prize will be showcased on GUE.tv at the discretion of Global Underwater Explorers. 
9. All winners of GUE.tv prizes agree to exclusive distribution rights with GUE.tv through all media and at the discretion of GUE.tv for a period of two years. GUE reserves the right to allow partial or complete use by contest sponsors.
10. Winners will be notified by email that their entry was chosen as a winner.
11. If the winner is unable to accept the prize, the prize will be forfeited in its entirety.
12. No substitution of prize is offered, no transfer of prize to a third party is permitted.
13. Prizes will be awarded only upon winner verification and approval by Global Underwater Explorers. The winner will be notified by email within 30 days after winning. The winner or selected entrant will then have 30 days to respond with their information. If the winner or selected entrant is unable to be contacted within 30 days after being selected or is ineligible, the prize will be forfeited.