Chroma Awards Season 2 · Guide

How to win the Chroma Awards.Season 2 is open until 7 January 2027.

Submissions opened on 19 October 2026 and close on 7 January 2027 at 11:45 PM PT. Here are the five divisions, where the $450,000+ actually sits, how films are judged, and a plan to deliver on time. Then build the film in ScreenWeaver: screenplay, storyboard, and footage with Seedance.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • Deadline 7 January 2027
  • $450,000+ in cash and travel
  • Tool awards explained
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide by the ScreenWeaver team. ScreenWeaver does not organise the Chroma Awards and is not affiliated with Chroma Awards or ElevenLabs. Rules read on 28 October 2026. Official page

Available today in ScreenWeaver: free screenwriting, and a storyboard generated from your screenplay with the Auteur plan, $39.99 a month.

Also available now: video generation of each shot, powered by Seedance, on the same Auteur plan, with 6,000 credits a month.

The rules on one card

Season 2 at a glance.

The Chroma Awards, formerly Project Odyssey, is an online competition for AI film, ads, music videos and games, incubated by ElevenLabs and backed by CapCut, Cantina, Runware and more than 100 companies and communities.
Edition
Season 2 (Season 1 ran in autumn 2025)
Submissions
19 October 2026 to 7 January 2027, 11:45 PM PT
Winners
Announced on a livestream on 11 February 2027
Divisions
Film & TV, Ad, Music Video, Game, Behind-The-Scenes, plus Student Awards
Prizes
$450,000+ in cash and travel perks, and $1M+ in free trials
Eligible work
Projects made after 1 February 2026
Entries
No limit, but each project goes in one category only
Jury
Four industry judges per category, three rounds

Sources: chromaawards.com, its prizes page and the ElevenLabs announcement of 19 October 2026, read on 28 October 2026. The announcement also mentions 1 January 2027 in its intro, while its dates table and the site say 7 January: we follow the site. The detailed rules sit on the submission portal, which we could not open: read them there before you enter.

Key dates

Eleven weeks to make the film.

Every date below is on the official site. The holidays fall inside the window: count on losing a week.

  1. 19 Oct 2026

    Submissions open

    Sponsor tools are offered as free trials from launch. Claim the ones you plan to use early.

  2. 7 Jan 2027

    Deadline

    11:45 PM Pacific Time. In Paris that is 8:45 AM on 8 January.

  3. 8 to 21 Jan 2027

    Shortlisting

    The first cut. Films that break a rule or miss the category stop here.

  4. 21 Jan to 11 Feb 2027

    Public voting and judging

    For finalists only. Plan to share your film when you reach this stage.

  5. 11 Feb 2027

    Winners livestream

    Then an awards gala in April 2027, date and city to be announced.

How films are judged

Judged like a festival, not like a tech demo.

ElevenLabs says Season 2 entries are judged against the standards of any film festival or music award, and puts it plainly: “AI is not why a project wins.” No weighted grid is published. These are the three questions the organisers ask.

  • Does it move you?

    Story and emotion first. One character who wants something, one obstacle, one change. A spectacular world with no question in it does not move a judge.

  • Is it well made?

    Direction, editing, continuity. Stable faces, matching light from shot to shot, cuts on movement. Every judge on the panel sees a continuity break.

  • Does it sound right?

    Sound is named on its own, which tells you its weight. Write music and sound cues into the screenplay, and place every line on the cut before you generate.

Season 1 published five equal criteria: thematic adherence, narrative design, creativity and originality, production value, and music and sound design. Season 2 has not repeated the grid, but the three questions cover the same ground. Fit your category cleanly as well: judges score within a category.

Who decides

Four judges per category, three rounds.

The Season 2 judges are not named yet. The site lists previous judges, such as Hiroaki Inoue (AiHUB), Charlie Fink and Henry Daubrez (Google Labs). Here is what is announced for this season.

  • Category panels

    Each category has four judges, all industry professionals with backgrounds in traditional creative fields and in AI. Your film is watched by people who see that genre every day.

  • Three rounds

    Shortlisting from 8 to 21 January, then judging and public voting for finalists until 11 February. Season 1 drew more than 6,500 entries: the first image and the title card carry weight.

  • The tool awards

    The ElevenLabs awards apply automatically to entries that use ElevenLabs significantly. Other tool awards depend on the sponsor’s tool. Read each sponsor’s condition on the submission portal before you generate.

The divisions

Where the money is, division by division.

Five divisions take submissions, plus Student Awards. The largest pot is not a division: $263,750 goes to entries that use sponsor tools, in any category. Under each, the angle we would take with ScreenWeaver.

  • 01

    Film & TV ($38,000)

    Ten categories at $3,500 each: Action & Adventure, Animation & Anime, Comedy & Mockumentary, Documentary & Non-Fiction, Drama & Romance, Experimental, Family Friendly, Horror, Thriller & Crime, Micro-Drama (presented by ReelShort), Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Plus the OpenArt Film of the Year.

    Choose the category where your look is obvious in the first shot. A film that fits one category cleanly beats one that straddles three. Micro-Drama rewards episodes with a hook every minute.

  • 02

    Ad ($35,000)

    Kling Ad of the Year, then Automotive (presented by Cars24), Consumer Products, Experimental, Fashion & Apparel, Financial Services, Food & Beverage, Telecom.

    A commercial is a thirty second screenplay. Storyboard it frame by frame and keep the product identical in every shot: a drifting logo is the first thing a judge sees.

  • 03

    Music Video ($24,000)

    ElevenLabs Music Video of the Year, which requires a soundtrack made with ElevenMusic, then six genre categories from Pop & Asia Pop to Rock, Metal & Alternative.

    Plan one shot per musical phrase before generating anything. Here the sound is the subject, so cut the storyboard to the track, not the other way round.

  • 04

    Game ($20,500)

    Meshy Game of the Year, then Arcade & Party, Experimental, Interactive Narrative (presented by Pickford), Music & Rhythm, Puzzle & Strategy.

    Not a ScreenWeaver job. A trailer made here can sit on your game page, but it will not be judged as a game.

  • 05

    Behind-The-Scenes ($17,000)

    The CapCut Behind-The-Scenes of the Year, and one category for each other division: how the work was made.

    In ScreenWeaver each shot stays linked to its scene, its storyboard frame and its prompt, so a making-of is already half written. Each project enters one category, so the making-of must be its own project.

  • 06

    Student Awards ($55,000)

    For students and young professionals aged 18 to 24: ten fellowships of $5,500 each, and paid Summer 2027 internships.

    If you are under 25, this is the best ratio of prize to competition. Your film still enters a normal category: the fellowship is on top.

Season 1 in numbers

What the first Chroma season teaches.

Season 1 ran from 31 August to 19 November 2025 on Devpost. It drew more than 6,500 submissions, paid out $191,500 in cash and announced its winners on 21 December 2025.

  1. 01

    The prize money has more than doubled. From $191,500 in cash to more than $450,000 in cash and travel. More categories also means more winners per genre.

  2. 02

    The biggest cheques are tool awards. A Film & TV category is worth $3,500 in total. The ElevenLabs, CapCut and Cantina awards are worth $22,000 each, and the ElevenLabs first place alone pays $6,000. The sponsor list is part of the strategy.

  3. 03

    Voidborn took two placements. Made by the ScreenWeaver team, it won 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards. Both are sponsor awards: look at what each tool does best before you pick one.

  4. 04

    Sound counted as much as picture. In Season 1 music and sound design was one of five equal criteria. Season 2 asks “does it sound right?” as one of three questions: the weight went up, not down.

  5. 05

    The calendar is shorter. Season 1 gave about eleven weeks without holidays. Season 2 gives eleven weeks with Christmas inside. Start before the end of October.

From script to screen

Voidborn: one scene, six shots.

A scene from Voidborn, episode 0, an anime short made by the ScreenWeaver team: the ruins of the first level, about seven minutes in. The screenplay page comes first, then each shot as a storyboard frame and as the final image.

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, by the ScreenWeaver team. It won 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards, and is an award winner at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. The scene answers the three Season 2 questions: a category you recognise in one shot (Animation & Anime), continuity from frame to frame, and sound planned on the page. The player starts on this scene.

The script

A 4 minute film in five movements.

The public pages set no length. Four minutes is a safe target for a Film & TV category: about 4 screenplay pages and 50 to 70 shots of 3 to 5 seconds. If the portal sets a limit for your category, keep the shape and rescale it.

  1. 0:00 to 0:20

    The hook

    The category is obvious in the first shot: a sword, a ship, a joke. Judges watch hundreds of films.

  2. 0:20 to 0:50

    The world and the rule

    One rule of this world, shown rather than explained. Who we follow and what they cannot afford to lose.

  3. 0:50 to 2:40

    The escalation

    Each beat raises the cost. Put a sound cue on every turn.

  4. 2:40 to 3:30

    The choice

    The decision the film is about, with its own music and no dialogue over the key image.

  5. 3:30 to 4:00

    The echo

    Close on a frame that rhymes with the opening. Then credits listing the AI tools you used.

Season 1 asked for English voice or English subtitles. Burn English subtitles into the master unless the portal says otherwise: it costs nothing and removes a doubt.

Plan to the deadline

Ten weeks, holidays included.

From the end of October to 7 January there are about ten working weeks once you take out the holidays. Lock the story in the first two, because everything after depends on it.
  1. 01

    Week 1

    Pick a category and a tool award

    Read the categories and the sponsor list. Pick the category you can win and, if you want one, the tool award you will aim for. Claim the free trials now.

  2. 02

    Weeks 1 and 2

    A screenplay with the sound written in

    Write it in the free Screenwriter plan, in industry format. Add music and sound cues as action lines: “does it sound right?” is one of the three questions.

  3. 03

    Weeks 3 and 4

    References and storyboard

    One approved reference per character and per set, then the storyboard generated from the screenplay. Fix the look here, not in the footage.

  4. 04

    Weeks 5 to 7

    Generate the footage

    Scene by scene from the storyboard and the references. If you aim for a tool award, generate those shots with that tool. Keep prompts and versions for a Behind-The-Scenes entry.

  5. 05

    Weeks 8 and 9

    Edit, mix, subtitle

    Cut, mix, burn in English subtitles, clear the music. Watch the film once on a phone.

  6. 06

    Before 7 January

    Publish and submit

    Publish the public link, check it in a private window, submit on the portal a few days before the deadline, not on it.

Traps to avoid

Eight ways to lose before the panel.

Some come from the Season 2 announcement, others from Season 1 rules that are likely to return. Check the portal rules for each one.

  • A project made too early

    Only projects made after 1 February 2026 are eligible. A film finished in January 2026 is out, however good it is. Keep the dates of your project files.

  • One film in two categories

    You can submit as many projects as you like, but each project enters one category only. Choose the one where the film fits best.

  • Counting on the tool award without the tool

    Tool awards need the sponsor’s tool used significantly. ElevenLabs awards apply automatically, but only if ElevenLabs is a real part of the film. Decide before you generate.

  • Music Video of the Year without ElevenMusic

    This award requires a soundtrack made with ElevenMusic and used significantly. A licensed track disqualifies you from this one prize.

  • Missing the time zone

    11:45 PM Pacific Time on 7 January is already 8 January in Europe and Asia. Set your own deadline 48 hours earlier.

  • Borrowed faces and franchises

    Season 1 banned deepfakes, unauthorised likenesses and third-party IP. Invent your characters and keep them out of famous franchises.

  • A link judges cannot open

    Season 1 asked for a public link on a social platform and refused Google Drive. Test the link logged out.

  • AI as the selling point

    “AI is not why a project wins.” A film that shows off a model but tells no story loses to a simple story well told.

Why ScreenWeaver

Chroma lets you pick the tools. The film must still hold together.

The Chroma sponsors include ElevenLabs, CapCut, Kling, Dreamina, Luma, MiniMax and PixVerse, and no single tool is imposed outside the tool awards. What ScreenWeaver adds is the film itself: screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project.

  • Built on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5

    Our footage pipelines are built on Seedance. Declare ScreenWeaver and the Seedance version as you would any other tool. ScreenWeaver footage does not count as a sponsor tool: generate those shots with the sponsor’s own tool.

  • A look that holds from shot to shot

    Characters, locations and references carry across the whole project. That answers “is it well made?” before the edit.

  • Sound planned from the page

    The screenplay carries your sound cues and the storyboard frames are linked to scenes and beats. Plan the sound before you generate, not after.

  • Start the script today

    Screenwriting is free, with no time limit. Add the storyboard and video generation for each shot with the Auteur plan at $39.99 a month.

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 animated shorts to short films 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

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 contest films

FAQ

The Chroma Awards, your questions

How do you win the Chroma Awards?
Season 2 entries are judged like festival films: does it move you, is it well made, does it sound right. Four judges per category score over three rounds. Pick the category your film fits cleanly, tell one simple story, and treat sound as a third of the job.
What is the Chroma Awards Season 2 deadline?
7 January 2027 at 11:45 PM Pacific Time, according to chromaawards.com. Submissions opened on 19 October 2026. Winners are announced on 11 February 2027.
What are the prizes?
More than $450,000 in cash and travel perks, plus over $1 million in free trials. By division: Film & TV $38,000 ($3,500 per category), Ad $35,000, Music Video $24,000, Game $20,500, Behind-The-Scenes $17,000, Student Awards $55,000, and $263,750 of tool awards.
Is the Chroma Awards the same as Project Odyssey?
Yes. The Chroma Awards is the new name of the competition that ran as Project Odyssey. It is incubated by ElevenLabs.
Do I have to use a specific AI tool?
No, except for tool awards: each requires the sponsor’s tool used significantly, and Music Video of the Year requires ElevenMusic. ScreenWeaver’s footage runs on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, which you declare like any other tool.
Can I enter more than one film?
Yes, with no limit, even several in the same category. Each project can only enter one category.
Which films are eligible?
Projects made after 1 February 2026. Read the age, country and language rules on the submission portal: Season 1 required the age of majority and English voice or subtitles.
Is there a prize for students?
Yes. The Student Awards are for ages 18 to 24: ten fellowships of $5,500 each, and winners can get paid internships in summer 2027.

Ten weeks to 7 January. Start with the page.

Write the screenplay for free today. Storyboard it, then film it with Seedance.
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