Valve has opened submissions for the Dota 2 Short Film Contest with a $40,000 prize pool. Users have until July 25 to submit their content.

As we head closer to the International, Valve has announced the Short Film Contest for Dota 2. Content creators can submit their work till July 25, 2021. 

The short film contest is an annual competition for Dota 2 content creators. The community votes on the short films and the winners win prizes. 

How will the Short Film Contest pan out?

Each submission will be featured in-game and the community will vote on the short films. The best submissions will be announced on stage at The International. The International 10 is taking place in Stockholm, Sweden this year. Valve has not yet committed to an in-person event and said it is evaluating the possibility of the same.

The best Short Film submission will receive $25,000 in prize money. $10,000 will go to the second place and $5000 to the third placed team. Each of the remaining seven finalists will receive $500.

Users whose short films are selected to be featured in-game will be contacted via their email addresses. 

What are the Submission guidelines?

  • Entries must be no longer than 90 seconds and should pertain to Dota.
  • The short films can use any form or combination of animation or live-action technique in their creation. Using Source Filmmaker is not a requirement.
  • Each entry must be at least 1080p.
  • The deadline for submission will be Sunday July 25th 15:00:00 PST. Users must complete the submission process, including uploading the video and filling out submission dialogs before the deadline.
  • The Steam community will review the submissions on the Steam Workshop. Valve will select the top entries in its sole discretion to be featured in-game for a final vote by the community, and the winners will be announced at The International 10.
  • The video must be a new creation specifically for the Dota 2 Film Contest.
  • You are free to use any Valve IP.
  • If you use any non-Valve IP, you must be the copyright owner or have explicit permission from the owner. You have to warrant to Valve that you have all necessary rights and permissions for the entry. Any submissions found to be infringing non-Valve IP will be disqualified. Note that for workshop items, you still need to provide a link to the items used, but you do not need explicit permission from the creator, since submission to the workshop automatically grants permission to use the item.
  • Users can submit multiple entries.
  • Submissions must be free of advertisements.

Who are the winners of the last Dota 2 Short Film Contest?

The top three submissions of last time’s Short Film Contest are as follows:

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