AI New York Awards 2026 · Guide

How to win the AI New York Awards.Six honors, any model, and two dates that disagree.

A small awards night at Cre8ive NYC in Manhattan, with six honors and no cash. Its official site describes an evening on 31 July. FilmFreeway lists a 15 November deadline and a 30 November event. Here are both, the rules, and a plan for the later dates.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • 30 seconds to 25 minutes
  • Any model or stack
  • FilmFreeway deadline 15 November
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. ScreenWeaver does not organise AI New York Awards and is not affiliated with Cre8ive NYC. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official page

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The rules on one card

What the awards ask for.

AI New York Awards is a small awards evening run from Cre8ive NYC, 134 West 29th Street in Manhattan. Its official site is a single page: a manifesto, six prizes, the 2026 winners and the rules. It gives no deadline. The deadlines sit on FilmFreeway.
Deadline
15 November 2026, according to FilmFreeway
The evening
31 July on the site, 30 November on FilmFreeway
Length
30 seconds to 25 minutes
Tools
Any current model or stack
AI role
Meaningful, explained in a short process note
Honors
Six laurels, no cash stated
Entry fee
From $5 to $29, according to FilmFreeway
Limit
One submission per creator or team per cycle

Source: ainyawards.com, a single page, read on 1 October 2026. FilmFreeway blocks automated readers: its dates and fees come from its listing as shown by a search engine on 1 October. The events directory aifilmcontests.com, verified on 17 September, shows the same 15 and 30 November dates. The organiser answers at hello@ainyawards.com.

Key dates

Two sets of dates.

The official site and FilmFreeway do not tell the same story. We show both instead of guessing, and <b>suggest you ask the organiser which cycle you are entering</b>.

  1. 31 Jul 2026

    The evening on the site

    Doors at 6 at Cre8ive NYC. The site lists the 2026 winners next to this date, so the evening looks to be past.

  2. 2 Aug 2026

    FilmFreeway opens

    According to FilmFreeway, submissions opened on 2 August, two days after that evening.

  3. 24 Aug to 25 Oct

    Four tiered deadlines

    FilmFreeway lists 24 August, 13 September, 4 October and 25 October. The fee runs from $5 at the first tier to $29 at the extended one.

  4. 15 Nov 2026

    Extended deadline

    The last submission date on FilmFreeway, at the highest fee.

  5. 22 and 30 Nov

    Notification, then the event

    FilmFreeway gives 22 November for notifications and 30 November for the event. The official site names no November date.

What the six honors reward

No grid, six descriptions.

The site publishes no scoring grid. Its descriptions of the six honors are the nearest thing to a rubric, and they share one idea: the honors go to people, not to files.

  • Best AI Film

    The top honor, for the piece that changed the temperature of the room. The 2026 winner played last, and the site says the room stayed seated after it ended. Make a film with a person underneath.

  • Best AI Director

    For visible authorship in every frame, whatever tools rendered it. Authorship is a choice repeated: the same logic of framing, rhythm and humour from the first shot to the hundredth.

  • Best AI Music Video & Commercial

    The category the site calls its most contested, and the one it says it is hungry for. A spec ad with a real idea can sit on the same screen as a long narrative.

  • Best AI Sound & Music

    A separate honor for a separate job: a score, sound design or audio that finishes the picture. Plan sound from the storyboard on, and the film can compete twice.

  • Best AI Prompt & Workflow

    The honor for the method: a pipeline, a model stack or a process that is itself craft. Keep a clean record of which tool made which shot, in what order and why.

  • Best AI Character Consistency

    For the hardest task in the medium: a character who stays a character across a full runtime. It rewards planning more than any other honor: one reference per character, approved once.

The site will not accept a string of generated images laid over a pop song. The film must hold together as a film. No jury and no weights are published.

Who decides

A small room and an unnamed panel.

No jurors are named. The site presents a curated evening for a small audience rather than a panel process.

  • The programmers

    Selection is made by the organisers, who sign no names on the site. The directory aifilmcontests.com names Iwona Rydz as festival director. If you need to know who watches, write to hello@ainyawards.com.

  • The room

    The evening described on the site plays films in waves, with the awards toward the back end, and has no panel and no moderator. A small audience in a dark room is the real test: a film that holds a room, not a thumbnail.

What the programme wants

All short forms, and a house taste.

Narrative, documentary, animated, experimental and surrealist work are all eligible, along with forms without a name yet. The site states its taste openly. Four cards, with the angle we would take.

  • 01

    Music videos and commercials

    The site says the most invention is happening here: music videos, brand films and ad spec.

    A ninety second spec ad with a real idea gets the same screen as a twenty minute narrative. The example they give is a commercial for a product that should not exist.

  • 02

    Narrative shorts

    A story with a person underneath, held together as a film.

    The programme gently downgrades padding. End where the story ends. A twenty minute film needs twenty minutes of story, not twenty minutes of beautiful shots.

  • 03

    Surreal and experimental

    Dream logic, strange cities, a man slowly turning into a window, a city of horses.

    Those are the site’s own examples of what it screened. Strangeness is welcome, but it has to cohere: the site refuses randomness, however attractive.

  • 04

    Generation and traditional craft together

    Films made wholly in a generative pipeline, and films that combine generation with cinematography, animation, editing and sound.

    Both are welcome. Whichever you choose, credit every collaborator, tool and model: hidden contributors are grounds for removal.

The 2026 winners

What five honors teach.

The official site lists the 2026 winners under the heading Season MMXXVI. The top honor, Best AI Film, went to Haydon: Patron Saint of the Obsessed, a film by Lucas Sabean.

  1. 01

    The last film won. Haydon played last, and the site says the room stayed seated after it ended. Put your strongest image at the end, not in the middle.

  2. 02

    The method has its own honor. Prehistoric Players, credited to IX-Heavens Fantasy and Narwhal Zhou, won Best AI Prompt & Workflow, so a well-run process can win without the top prize.

  3. 03

    Consistency is a prize, not a footnote. The Lottery, by Daniela Ardizzone, took Best AI Character Consistency. The honor exists because the task is hard.

  4. 04

    Sound is a second chance. Don’t Die, by Lluis Mundet, was honored for sound and music apart from the picture. A strong score can win a film that does not win overall.

  5. 05

    The shortest forms are the most contested. What Is Freedom won Best AI Music Video & Commercial, which the site calls its most contested category. Enter it knowing the odds.

From script to screen

Voidborn: the same faces across six shots.

The ruins scene of Voidborn, episode 0, an anime by the ScreenWeaver team made with Seedance, answers Best AI Character Consistency and Best AI Director: the same swordsman and the same blank-faced automaton, recognisable from the wide shot to the close-up, with a clear hand behind the framing. A screenplay page opens the section, followed by six shots as storyboard frames and final images.

Logline. Every seven years, the Rift opens and swallows the world’s dreams. A swordsman sworn to a blind seer escorts her through its levels, toward a promise they made to a girl left behind.

Screenplay · episode 0 · English subtitles

EXT. RUINS OF THE FIRST LEVEL - NIGHT

Broken towers under a violet sky. SIM, a swordsman in a black cloak, walks beside LADY MARIA, blindfolded, all in white.

SIM

Tell me, Maria... do you think Leia believes we are still alive?

MARIA

We made a promise... the two of us.

A line of white automatons rises from the ruins.

AUTOMATON

The Rift will wait for no one.

SIM

What are machines doing at this level?

One automaton steps forward. Its face is blank.

AUTOMATON

We must return to the surface.

Its eyes ignite red.

SIM

I am Sim, guardian of Lady Maria... and I will proceed with your execution.

Steel meets steel. Lightning runs down the blade.

CUT TO:

  1. A swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded woman in white walk through ruins at night
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    01

    Wide · the pair

    Wide shot, a bald swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded red-haired woman in white walk through night ruins

  2. Medium two-shot of a bald swordsman and a blindfolded red-haired woman
    Storyboard frame of the two-shot, in grey
    02

    Two-shot · the promise

    Medium two-shot, the swordsman and the blindfolded seer side by side, violet night sky, broken towers

  3. Three white humanoid automatons stand in night ruins
    Storyboard frame of the automatons shot, in grey
    03

    Wide · the machines

    Wide low angle, three white humanoid automatons standing in the ruins, cold blue moonlight

  4. Close-up of a white automaton with a smooth blank face
    Storyboard frame of the blank face close-up, in grey
    04

    Close-up · the blank face

    Close-up on an automaton's smooth faceless head, black eye slots, cables at the neck, ruins behind

  5. A white automaton's eyes glow red
    Storyboard frame of the red eyes close-up, in grey
    05

    Close-up · the red eyes

    Same framing, the automaton's eyes ignite red, the swordsman's shoulder out of focus in the foreground

  6. A swordsman strikes with a katana wreathed in lightning and sparks
    Storyboard frame of the clash shot, in grey
    06

    Action · the clash

    Dynamic low angle, the swordsman strikes with his katana, lightning running along the blade, sparks, cape flying

Voidborn, episode 0, 13 minutes, so the whole episode sits inside the 25 minute limit. Voidborn earned 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards, and an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. The scene shown begins about 7 minutes into the player.

The script

A 5 minute film that earns its ending.

The range is 30 seconds to 25 minutes, and padding is penalised. Five minutes is a disciplined size: about five screenplay pages and 60 to 75 shots of 4 seconds.

  1. 0:00 to 0:35

    The signature

    Open on the image that carries your handwriting. The jurors look for an author.

  2. 0:35 to 2:30

    The room

    Establish the person, the place and the oddity that belongs only to this film.

  3. 2:30 to 4:10

    The drift

    Let the film go where only this film could go, and keep the look steady while it does.

  4. 4:10 to 5:00

    The last frame

    The room that stayed seated did so for a reason. End on the image people will remember.

Cut the last ten seconds that you love and see whether the ending improves. The programme prefers a film that stops early to one that lingers.

Date by date

Aim for 25 October, keep 15 November as the buffer.

If FilmFreeway’s dates hold, a lower fee tier closes on 25 October and the extended deadline is 15 November. Plan for the earlier date and keep three weeks in reserve.
  1. 01

    By 4 October

    Choose the honor and the form

    A 5 minute film or a 90 second spec ad, and one honor to chase. Write five loglines and keep the strangest one that still makes sense.

  2. 02

    By 10 October

    The screenplay

    Four to five pages, written free in ScreenWeaver. Write the process note in your head as you go: three or four sentences, honest.

  3. 03

    By 14 October

    References and storyboard

    Approve one reference for every character and every place, then generate the storyboard. For the character honor, approve each face once and never regenerate it.

  4. 04

    By 21 October

    Generate the footage

    Feed the scenes to Seedance in storyboard order. Log the model and the settings for each shot: the workflow honor rewards it.

  5. 05

    By 25 October

    Cut, mix and submit

    Cut to the natural end, finish the sound, credit every collaborator and tool, and submit on FilmFreeway with the process note.

  6. 06

    Until 15 November

    Buffer

    If FilmFreeway’s extended date holds, use it to fix sound and colour. Email the organiser first to confirm which cycle you are in.

Ways to be removed

Eight ways to lose before the room does.

The rules are short and plain. Each trap below is one sentence on the official site.

  • Planning around the wrong date

    The site talks about 31 July, FilmFreeway about 15 and 30 November. Do not book a flight before the organiser confirms the event date in writing.

  • A mood board with a soundtrack

    The site will not take generated images set to a needle drop and called a film. The submission must be a coherent piece of work.

  • A real person without consent

    Deepfakes of real people are not permitted without written consent from the person shown. The site says the rule does not bend.

  • Hidden contributors

    Credit every collaborator, including the tools and models that contributed in a meaningful way. Hidden contributors are grounds for removal.

  • Rights you cannot prove

    You must hold the rights to all material, including any training data that is not public domain or properly licensed. If unsure, ask before you submit.

  • Padding

    Work that lingers past its natural end is gently downgraded. A 25 minute film must justify every minute.

  • Several films, one slot

    One submission per creator or team per cycle. Choose your best film, not the one with the most effects.

  • A dishonest process note

    Describe the role of AI honestly in three or four sentences. The note is for the record and the audience, not an audit, so a plain account beats a grand one.

Why ScreenWeaver

Any model is welcome. A plan makes the film cohere.

The site accepts films made on any current model or stack, and prizes the method itself. ScreenWeaver gives that method a spine: screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project.

  • Powered by Seedance 2.0 and 2.5

    The awards impose no tool, so footage from ScreenWeaver’s Seedance pipelines is eligible. Credit the model in the process note and in the end credits.

  • Character consistency by design

    One honor rewards a character who stays the same across the runtime. A face approved once is reused in every shot of the project, which is the hard part.

  • A method you can describe

    The process note takes three or four sentences, and a whole honor rewards workflow. When every shot traces back to its scene and its frame, writing both is easy.

  • A free start

    The Screenwriter plan costs nothing, with no end date. The storyboard is $9.99 a month in Storyboard Beta, and shot generation arrives with the Filmmaker plan.

Real productions

International festival-recognized films have been written and produced with ScreenWeaver.

ScreenWeaver is already being used as a creative workspace for real AI film productions, from cinematic shorts to animated series pilots selected, nominated, and awarded by international festivals.

  • Video thumbnail for VOIDBORN

    VOIDBORN

    AI animated / cinematic short

    Festival recognition

    • 1st Place Silver

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • 2nd Place Dreamina

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • Award Winner

      Seoul International AI Film Festival

  • Video thumbnail for Les Fils du Vinnana

    Les Fils du Vinnana

    AI short film

    Festival recognition

    • Honorable Mention

      Top Quark Film Festival

    • People's Choice Nominee

      Illuminate Oneness of Humanity

    • Nominee

      ALTFF Supershort

  • Video thumbnail for Lost Garden

    Lost Garden

    AI animated series pilot

    Festival recognition

    • Finalist

      AI London Festival

See what creators are building

The pipeline

Write. Board. Produce.

  1. ScreenWeaver screenplay editor: acts, sequences and beats above the formatted script of The Yellow Umbrella

    01The screenplay, enriched

    An industry-standard screenplay editor, and more: a visual outline and beat editor, your writing inspirations (notes, photos, audio) kept next to the page, and an AI researcher to support your writing, not replace it.

  2. ScreenWeaver storyboard: shot S3 of The Yellow Umbrella with characters, shot settings and the script beside it

    02The storyboard, made easy

    Shot breakdown generated from your screenplay, manual control over every shot (frame, angle, movement, duration), and generative AI previsualization in one click.

  3. ScreenWeaver production canvas: shots S3 and S4 as connected nodes carrying their storyboard panels and prompts

    03AI production, with finesse

    Footage generation pipelines connected to your screenplay and storyboard. Optimized out of the box, fully editable workflow.

More AI film festivals

Guides for other festivals

Go further

Guides for festival films

FAQ

The AI New York Awards, your questions

How do you win the AI New York Awards?
Pick one of six honors and make the film for it: Best AI Film, Director, Music Video & Commercial, Sound & Music, Prompt & Workflow or Character Consistency. No grid is published, but the site wants a person underneath the surface, a coherent film and an honest process note.
What is the deadline?
No date appears on the official site. FilmFreeway lists tiered deadlines on 24 August, 13 September, 4 October and 25 October, and an extended one on 15 November 2026, with notification on 22 November and the event on 30 November.
Why does the site say 31 July?
The single-page site describes an evening on 31 July at Cre8ive NYC and already lists the 2026 winners. FilmFreeway describes a later cycle. We cannot tell which one is current, so write to hello@ainyawards.com before you pay.
Can I use ScreenWeaver for this?
Yes. The site accepts any current model or stack. The footage pipelines in ScreenWeaver are built on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5. Credit every tool and model, as the rules require.
How long can the film be?
From 30 seconds to 25 minutes. The site warns that it gently downgrades work that lingers past its natural end.
Is there prize money?
None is stated. The six honors are laurels, awarded at the evening. The entry fee on FilmFreeway runs from $5 to $29 depending on the tier.
Who is on the jury?
No jurors are named on the site. Selection is by the organisers, with the directory aifilmcontests.com naming Iwona Rydz as festival director.
Is one film the limit?
No. The rule is one submission per creator or team per cycle. If selected, you let the festival screen the film at its event and use a short clip in its recap. Beyond that, all rights remain with you.

Six weeks. Pick the honor first.

Begin the screenplay on the free plan, and choose your honor before you write a line.
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