Rules of “Gold Dolphin” Award Competition of 2012 Xiamen International Animation Festival I. Objectives of the Competition

Trough comparing and exchanging animation works at home and abroad, “Gold Dolphin” Award Competition of Xiamen International Animation Festival aims to discover excellent anime works and talents so as to promote the development of animation industry. It also encourages the application of animation techniques in various industries and fields through establishing application awards like commercial animation, cell phone animation and cartoon.

- April 1, 2012 Release the rang of works to be solicited, Regulations of the Competition as well as its Rules;

- April 5-September 10, 2012 Open for registration of entries from home and abroad;

- September 15-September 25, 2012 Preselect and preliminarily select entries;

- September 28, 2012 Announce the list of entries for final choice;

- October 10-October 20, 2012 Make a final choice among solicited entries;

- Evening of October 28, 2012（undetermined） Organize prize-presenting ceremony of “Gold Dolphin” Award Competition and announce the wining works.

III. Classification of Entries

1．Award for animated long films: Works to be solicited shall be longer than 60 minutes and be made for cinemas.

2．Award for television animations: Works to be solicited shall be animated TV series dividing into several episodes.

3. Award for commercial animations: Works to be solicited shall be presenting animations, advertising flash, animation MTV, introductory video of games, etc., which integrate various commercial elements and are shown in the form of animations.

4. Award for science-popularization animations: Works to be solicited shall be animations presenting science and technology and be courseware in the form of animations.

5. Award for cell phone animation: Works to be solicited shall be animations particularly created to be played in cell phones. And the time shall be between 30 seconds to 5 minutes.

6．Award for cell phone cartoons: Works to be solicited shall be cartoons particularly created to be played in cell phones, and there is no limitation to forms and types.

7．Award for animated short films: Works to be solicited shall be narrative-based animations longer than 30 seconds but shorter than 30 minutes, including network animation.

8．Xiamen Innovation Award: The works to be collected are limited to animations reflecting the culture, history, humanity and life of the west coast of Taiwan Strait.

The top 20 entries will be preferentially recommended to the cartoon and animation base of China Mobile and the animation operating center of China Telecom and other partners of the Competition.

Ⅳ. Awards

Ten awards are established for the 2012 “Gold Dolphin” Award Competition, and specific awards are as follows:

1. For domestic groups, Best Animated Long Film, Best TV Animation, Best Commercial Animation, Best Science-Popularization Animation, Best Cell Phone Animation, Best Cell Phone Cartoon, Best Animated Short Film and Xiamen Innovation Award are limited to enterprise participants and studios with independent legal person status.

2. The Organization Committee may adjust the award design according to the proposals of the Appraisal Board and make it public on the official website.

3. The winners will be awarded with the trophy, certificate and bonus of “Gold Dolphin”.

4. Individual income tax relevant to the bonus will be withheld and remitted by the Organization Committee.

Ⅴ. Requirements for Submission

1. DVD made by the stop motion technology or computers for films, TV and webcasting can apply for participating in the Competition. All entries shall be finished after September 1, 2010. Permit for public releasing issued by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television shall be obtained as for long animations and serial animations.

2. The following materials shall be submitted for the entry:

(1) Application form: Data for the entry of “Gold Dolphin” Award shall be filled in online through the official website (www.cybersousa.org). After online submission, download the finished application form and then sign or stamp it.

(2) Format requirements of the entry: Except the cell phone animation and cell phone cartoon, other entries shall be in one of the following formats: AVI, MPEG，WMV, AFS and MOV, and then burn them into DVD videos ( one entry burnt into one disk) with the “entry No.” generated by the online registration system marked on the disk.

(3) Cell phone animations: Please provide your entries of two different specifications, that is, 480*320PX of the 3GP format and 1280*720PX of the AVI format. Two screenshots of the entry, which is over 1,200 pixel wide, shall also be provided. The DVD disk burnt (one entry burnt into one disk) shall be prepared with the “entry No.” generated by the online registration system marked on the disk.

(4) Cell phone cartoons: It shall be in JPG format. Two different specifications are required to provide, that is 480*320PX (300PPI) and 800*480PX (300PPI). And it shall also be burnt into DVD videos (one entry burnt into one disk) with the “entry No.” generated by the online registration system marked on the disk.

(5) Snippets of the entry: Snippets of each entry shall be provided for showing on the official website of Xiamen International Festival, and the time shall not be longer than 1 minute. Snippets shall be burnt into disks with the “entry No.” generated by the online registration system marked on the disk.

(6) The optical disk of entry shall be posted to the Organization Committee of “Gold Dolphin” Award.

3. The complete entry for appraising and selecting. In terms of series longer than 20 minutes, an episode is enough; and two episodes are required for those with time no longer than ten minutes.

4. Language requirements: The entry shall have both the Chinese and English versions (If the original version is not in Chinese or English, please post us both the Chinese and English versions.)

5. Only application forms completely filled in and autographed (or sealed) can be registered. The deadline is 12 p.m. of September 10, 2012.

Ⅵ. Transport and Insurance

Please pay in advance for entries posted to Xiamen International Animation Festival. And for disks sent to the Organization Committee, there shall be such statement that “No commercial value, of culture-related uses and only for the selection!”

Videos and disks posted for pre-selection will be sent back, unless the participants have made such statements and pay the postage in advance. And the Organization Committee shall bear no liability for the loss of entries in the posting process.

Ⅶ. Selecting Committee

1. The Organization Committee shall determine members of the Selecting Committee, whose responsibility is to select qualified entries for Xiamen Animation Festival through appraisal and evaluation.

2. No member is allowed to appraise the entry of any participant who has any kind of touch with him.

3. The Selecting Committee will appraise and select registered entries in line with the quality and appreciation of entries, and emphasis will be attached to innovation of the creators.

4. Due to the large number of entries, those not nominated won’t be individually notified.

Ⅷ. Appraisal Board

1. The Appraisal Board shall be composed of 7 members at least, of which 3 foreign judges at least are required.

2. The Appraisal Board shall elect the chairman at the fist meeting.

3. No member is allowed to appraise the entry of any participant who has any kind of touch with him.

4. Where the number of entries of certain competition unit is less than 12 (10 for animated long film), the Appraisal Board shall have the right to make the award vacant.

5. The Appraisal Board shall specify the system and standards for appraisal and selection.

6. The Appraisal Board will select the winning entries and determine the corresponding list.

Ⅸ. Invitation

Authors of nominated entries will be invited to be present at Xiamen Animation Festival with meals and accommodation provided for free.

The top 20 entries will be preferentially recommended to the cartoon and animation base of China Mobile and the animation operating center of China Telecom and other partners of the Competition.

Ⅹ. Copyright

1. Each participant shall be the author of the entry or its legitimate owner. For works jointly created, the participant shall ensure that he has the legitimate ownership of the entry. In the event that this cannot be guaranteed, the work shall participate in the competition in the name of all creators.

2. All applicants shall be deemed to have authorized the Organization Committee of Xiamen International Animation Festival to show the entries (in whole or in part) in public or on various media for non-commercial purposes.

Ⅺ. Projection of Films

1. The Organization Committee is entitled to digitalize all nominated entries for preservation.

2. The Organization Committee will show all nominated works to the public during Xiamen International Animation Festival.

3. The Organization Committee will determine the order, category and schedule of the animation projection.

4. The Organization Committee shall have the right to show non-commercial entries and specially screen them.

Ⅻ. Prize-Presenting Ceremony

1. Both the prize-presenting ceremony and press conference shall be organized by the Organization Committee of Xiamen International Animation Festival.

2. The time for the prize-presenting ceremony is scheduled to be the evening of October 28, 2012.

3. The Organization Committee will invite all nominated participants to attend the ceremony as distinguished guests.

4. Any domestic and foreign winner absent at the ceremony for some reason can authorize others to accept the award on his behalf. In this case, the person shall submit the original of the letter of authorization to the Organization Committee.

5. Winning works will be shown in the course of the prize-presenting ceremony.

6. Winners will be awarded with bonuses and prizes offered by the Organization Committee.

7. The Organization Committee will arrange media exclusive interviews with the permission of the winner himself.

XIII. Legal Matters

1. The participant shall be the legitimate owner of his entry for which he has the copyright and undertakes corresponding legal responsibilities. All losses incurred due to the claim for right of the entry by a third party shall be borne by the participant; and if such claim results in serious influence on or losses to the Organization Committee or the Competition, the participant shall make compensations.

2. The copyright of the entry shall be owned by the author. And the Organization Committee is entitled to exhibiting and broadcasting the entries on the media as well as publishing the anthology of excellent works of the entries.

3. Where the author makes no statement in the application for entry form, the Organization Committee shall have the right to take the whole or part of the entry for publicizing the Competition.

4. No limit is set by the Organization Committee for the participants to send his work to likewise competitions or for commercial purposes at other time, while all probable conflicts with organizers of other competitions or relevant institutions shall be undertaken by the participant himself.

5. Any participant submitting the application form shall be deemed to unconditionally accept the regulations and rules stipulated by the Organization Committee. In the event of any dispute, it shall be submitted to Xiamen Arbitration Commission for arbitration. And only the Chinese version of the Regulations has legal effect. And the Rules of the Competition shall be subject to the final interpretation of the Organization Committee of Xiamen International Animation Festival.

1. Other provisions involved in the Rules of the Competition will be released by the Organization Committee on the official website (www.cybersousa.org) of Xiamen International Animation Festival.

2. Rules of the Competition shall be effective as the date of its release.

3. Rules of the Competition shall be subject to the final interpretation of the Organization Committee of the “Gold Dolphin” Award Competition of Xiamen International Animation Festival.

Address: Room 608, Comprehensive Building, No. 33 Guanri Road, Xiamen Software Park, Xiamen, Fujian, China. Post code: 361008

Tel: 86-(0)592-5953900 Fax: 86-(0)592-5953953

E-mail: animation@cybersousa.org