Click Here for the list of Categories

Click Here for Entry Form

ACM-NE encourages everyone to enter and celebrate what makes public, educational and government media unique and valuable. The rules have been set up to level the playing field as much as possible among such a diverse group of centers and volunteer producers.

Entries will be judged on the following basic criteria:

Content, Format and Production Style, Audio and Video Technical Elements, and Overall Impact.

Changed this year:  Each of the twenty regular categories will be split into two divisions primarily based on the overall budget of your affiliated Access Center.  They are the “Budget #1 (Under $200,000)” and “Budget #2 ($200,001 and up)” divisions and judged separately, EXCEPT:

Category 17: Student Programming (All student programming will be judged together, regardless of budget category).

Further information on this change is available below.  Additionally, there are two special categories: Overall Excellence and PEG Advocacy category.

Submitting Your Video
Submit all entries online. You can paste a link directly on the entry form, or can send your file via Dropbox to videofestival@acm-ne.org.

NOTE:  The festival deadline has been extended.  Entries must be made online by Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 5pm.

If you use the Dropbox upload option, your file name must include the following:
– category number
– category type (B1 for Budget #1 or B2 for Budget #2)
– your entry number

i.e.: if you are a non-professional entering in Category 1: Arts and Entertainment, your file name might look like this: Entry1234CategoryB1FunwiththeArts

Entries not properly labelled may be disqualified.

If you are unable to submit your entry on-line, DVD’s will be accepted by mailing two copies to the Contest Coordinator. The DVD’s must be clearly marked with the ENTRY NUMBER you receive after you fill out the form on line. This year, there will be no extra charge.

Choosing A Category
Programs can only be entered ONCE, so please choose the category it fits best. A different episode from a SERIES can be entered in a maximum of TWO different categories.  For example:  “THE SHOW: Episode #3” can be entered in the talk show category.  “THE SHOW: Episode #5” can be entered in the diversity empowerment category.  A third episode of “THE SHOW” will be disqualified.

Length of Video Entry
Entries may be any length, but judges are only required to watch 10 minutes of each entry. You may submit any part of a single program, or three to four segments from a series program, separated by a fade or slate and not exceeding three minutes per segment.  Segments MAY NOT be re-edited; they must appear as they were originally cablecast.  If you want the judges to watch from a specific point in the program, it is your responsibility to clearly convey that to judges with accompanying material.  If you are only sending an excerpt of a show, make sure it is clearly marked as an excerpt or include the open of the show before the excerpt.

Overall Excellence for PEG Stations entry rules
This professional-only award recognizes access organizations in the Northeast region.  Your entry can be either an edited 10-20 minute compilation of clips from a minimum of six different productions OR links to a minimum of six individual programs representing your best of the best.  The latter option might be ideal for smaller access centers that don’t have the time or staff to put a compilation together.  But keep in mind that all entries will be judged together in their respective budget categories, whether those entries are compilations OR clips.  Be as creative as you want without altering the content.

Programming examples should include shows created by media center staff, community producers or non-profit organizations with editorial control, by students, school employees and/or education access staff, or by government employees or government access staff.

IMPORTANT:  We encourage support materials for this category so use the link on the entry form to submit any documentation.  Along with your video entry, state if your organization is P, E, and/or G, or any combination; the number of full and part-time staff, and your annual budget for the entire organization.
Note that the budget categories have changed this year as follows-
– Under $200K
– $201-350K
– $351-500K
– $501-750K
– $751 and over

PEG Advocacy Video Entry Rules
Video must be generic and therefore NOT SPECIFIC to any particular community.  There is no entry fee for this category.

Producer Division?  (Formerly Professional or Non-Professional Entry)

New this year, and as a trial run, your producer division will be based on your Access Center’s overall budget, rather than strictly categorizing your program as Professional / Non Professional.  If you are submitting your entry as an Access Center, your entry will go in the Budget #1 category if your center’s total budget is up to and including $200,000, and will go in the Budget #2 category if your total budget is $200,001 and over.  If you are an independent producer (formerly called nonprofessional) utilizing your center’s staff and resources, you are eligible to enter Budget #1 unless your show was created under certain conditions. We ask that you review all the information below.

To help you determine which division to enter in, please refer to the following flow chart:

Are you an Access Center or Independent Producer?
If “Access Center”,
then please answer below:		   If “Independent Producer”,
then please answer below:
Is your center’s budget $0-$200,000? If “YES”, then you are in the
Budget #1 Division		 In a center with a budget above $200,000, 1. Are you using 3 or more Access Center Staff as production crew? If the answer to ALL of these questions is “NO”, then you are in the
Budget #1 Division.If the answer to ANY of these questions is “YES”, then you are in the
Budget #2 Division
Is your center’s budget $200,001 and over? If “YES”, then you are in the
Budget #2 Division		 2. Was this project created with equipment and resources that are normally available only to Access Center staff?
3. Were you being paid by a third party during the course of creating the project?

As mentioned previously, this is a trial run for 2017.  As we close out the festival later in the summer there will be an opportunity to provide feedback on this change to determine how well it worked for your center’s entries.

All videos submitted must have been wholly produced and cablecast for the first time on a PEG channel between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

Each entry must be paid by credit card on-line or mailed with the appropriate entry fee.
– $25 for Alliance members
– $40 for non-Alliance members
– There is NO FEE for PEG Advocacy entries.

All winners will be notified by email on or around September 15, 2017. FIRST
PLACE winners will be asked to provide a video file for inclusion in the
winners reel. Producers who do not submit a file cannot be guaranteed that
their clip will appear in the reel at the awards ceremony. A list of contest
winners will be posted on the ACM-NE website – acm-ne.org  shortly
thereafter.  All awards will be presented at the Video Festival Awards in November at the ACM-NE Regional Conference in Falmouth, MA.

Category awards will be in the form of engraved plaques for first place, and certificates for second and third place.

Payment for Video Entries

You can also pay for your entries by credit card on Paypal. You do not need to have a Paypal account.

Click HERE to pay online.

or you may mail your payment
please include your entry number(s) on the check.

Please make all checks payable to:
Alliance for Community Media, Northeast Region
C/o WACA-TV
200 Butterfield Drive, B1
Ashland, MA 01721

Mail DVD entries to:
Peabody Access Telecommunications, Inc.
119 Foster Street, Building 13, Suite 2B
Peabody, MA  01960

If you are unsure which fees are due for your entries, check on the status of your ACM Membership. Please email info@allcommunitymedia.org  or call 952-928-4643.

Reasons for Disqualification

  • Program is not viewable for technical reasons.  Judges will make every effort to view your entry. Please check your entry submission before you hit “submit”.
  • An entry that clearly violates a specific requirement of the category in which it is entered.
  • Improper emendation for the purpose of this contest.  Program or excerpts of programs should be entered in this contest as they were originally cablecast.
  • Incorrect payment, or entries submitted after deadline of Tuesday, July 11, 2017: This is a REAL deadline, there will be no extensions! Enter early and often!
  • Failure to properly name your digital entry.  (File name must include Entry number, Category type and number, and show title.)

Note:  No refunds will be made for any entry that is disqualified, or if any other error is made by the producer or submitter of any entry.

Indemnification and Rights

  • The ACM-NE is not responsible for lost or damaged DVDs. To protect yourself, please do not send masters. DVDs will not be returned.
  • All decisions made by the judging panels and the ACM-NE Festival Committee are final.
  • To promote community media, the ACM-NE retains the right to distribute the winning programs on a nonexclusive basis for a period of two (2) years.
  • The producer of the work is responsible for obtaining all approvals, clearances, licenses, etc., for materials contained in the entry and will provide such clearances upon request.

Be A Festival Judge!
To volunteer to be a festival judge, contact  Camille Bartlett of Peabody Access Telecommunications, Inc. at camille@peabodytv.com.
Judging will take approximately between July 17 and August 31, 2017. 


The ACM-Northeast Region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. The region acts as a conduit for information between the states, and organizes conferences, workshops and events to advance community media in both the states and nationally. For more information about the Northeast Region, please go to our website – www.acm-ne.org.