AMMA Contests

2008 Entry Form

The Magic Moments Contest Is About Having Fun
Preparing for the Magic Moments competition has been the most fun I have had as a videographer. Winning the top prize was just 'icing on the cake'. If you are a member of AMMA or a Club Member of AMMA, join in the fun and create a one minute (or less) video and submit it on VHS tape on or before September 1, 2008. You'll have a chance to be the winner or one of the two runner-ups selected by a panel of experienced judges.
Mark Levy, 2008 Magic Moments chairperson

Here are some comments from past winners:

Creating a complete story in 60 seconds (including titles) is always a welcome challenge, requiring great attention to detail, since every word and every frame counts. I think, when it's done well, a one minute movie represents the highest form of moving image art.
Mark Levy

I like the challenge of telling a complete story in only 60 seconds. Besides, it is a lot of fun!
Roger Garretson

It's a fun challenge, helps teach how to cut to improve and permits the showing of the work of many entrants. The tape of all the entries makes for a delightful club program which we all look forward to.
Eph Horowitz

Magic Moments is a great format for amateurs to work in narrative style; you get to do a mini-feature on a minute scale. The challenge of telling a story in one minute is exciting, and the limitations make you really evaluate every shot you make and every cut you use.
Walt Gilmore

The challenge is of fitting an intelligent story with titles in one minute!!
Carol Profy

The challenge is of putting something original, and hopefully funny, together in a minute or less. The Utah Video Club always wants to do one, and that too pushes my button.
Jean Frances

You may have an idea that you'd like to develop but it doesn't lend itself to a movie of any length. The idea is only useful as a one minute movie. Magic Moment allows you to use this material which would otherwise not be used at all.
Norm Otto

Magic Moments Winners, 2007
First	Planting Seeds	Walt & Pam Gilmore
Second	If These Walls Could Talk	Joyce Axelrod
Third	The Butterfly Place	Bill Leeder
Honorable Mentions: Meet The Beetles by George Henderson, Tech Support by Walt & Pam Gilmore, Relative Value by Walt & Pam Gilmore.

Previous Years Winners

The Annual AMMA Contest

2008 Entry Form

The International Amateur Motion Picture Festival is an annual competition sponsored by AMMA. The contest is open to all amateur moviemakers. Entries, which may be submitted in a variety of film or video formats, are judged by a panel of judges frequently representing both amateur and professional moviemaking communities. Typically, ten entries are selected as winners. The Oscar Horovitz Award, a special prize available only to members of AMMA, is also presented each year. Winning movies are shown at an annual Convention held in the Fall of the year. Go to the events page to check the latest information on the Conference.

AMMA's Top Ten Winners, 2007 The Oscar H. Horovitz Memorial Award for the Best Motion Picture by a member of AMMA
Woody Moves In (nature)	Stan Whitsitt, CA
Rest of the Top Ten
Nature’s Way (story)	Norman Otto, FL
Out Of Antarctica (nature)	Mila Werbik, Canada
Norwegian Byways (travel)	Leo Tallieu, MI
From Russia with Love (travel)	Harold Cosgrove, NY
Thailand (travel)	Pat & Brian Deakin, New Zealand
Canyon Contrasts (documentary)	Bill & Mary Ann Leeder, IL
Model Jets (documentary)	Harold Cosgrove, NY
Amateur Expert #15 (documentary)	Paul Hansen, CA
White Pass & Yukon Route (documentary)	Pam & Walt Gilmore, CA
Honorable Mention
The Charm of Italy (travel)	Pat & Brian Deakin, New Zealand
Classical Glass (documentary)	Ned Cordery, UT
Memories of 65 years, Part 1 (family)	James Beach, CA

Previous Years Winners

The Ten Best of the West

Ten Best of the West (TBW) is an annual movie competition open to amateurs who reside West of the Mississippi River in the USA or in the four Westernmost Canadian provinces (a listing of eligible residencies can be found in the Contest Rules printed on the back of the entry form). True to its name, ten winners are selected from among the entries by a panel of judges. TBW is a low-key, yet presitgious, contest, sponsored by various local movie clubs. Its venue changes each year to the locality of the current club sponsor.

The Ten Best of the West Film/Video Festival (TBW) was the brainchild of George Cushman, who launched the first event with the help of California amateur clubs in Los Angeles on November 10, 1956. The festival had no formal organization — no officers, no constitution, no by-laws, no treasury. Each year one local club would take its turn in obtaining a venue, providing judges, screening the winners, and awarding trophies. Now, fifty years later, the TBW continues to operate in the same way, lifted mysteriously out of the mists by the volunteer support of a local club.

Movies on any subject recorded on video tape or DVD are eligible, provided they have beginning and end titles (or credits) and do not exceed 15 minutes running time. Entry forms may be found below.

2008 Contest Rules

2008 Entry Form

Set your brain into motion, then start your camcorders rolling to make a movie for the TBW festival. You could be a Ten Best winner.

Check the List of Winners of the 2007 Contest in PDF format.

Previous lists of winners: 2002 Contest, 2004 Contest, 2005 Contest, 2006 Contest.

AMPS Contest

2008 Contest Rules

2008 Entry Form

The American International Film and Video Festival, sponsored by the American Motion Picture Society (AMPS), is the oldest continuously run film festival in the world. Entries are welcomed from all amateur film and video producers throughout the world. Productions are limited to 30 minutes in length and may be submitted in most formats. Contact Ned Cordery for additional information at goslands@infowest.com.

Check out the American Motion Picture Society (AMPS) Website for more information on this contest.

Check the List of Winners of the 2007 Contest.

Previous lists of winners: 2002 Contest, 2004 Contest, 2006 Contest.