Jingrui AI Creation Contest · Guide

How to win the Jingrui AI Creation Contest.RMB 10 million, 265 awards, deadline 22 November.

Launched on 17 September 2026 by Hujing Entertainment (虎鲸文娱) and hosted on Youku, it is the largest AI film prize pool of the year: RMB 2 million for the top award, at least RMB 10,000 for each of 265 winners. The catch: a complete, original film of at least 10 minutes. Here are the rules and a plan.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • Deadline 22 November 2026
  • At least 10 minutes
  • Any AI tool
Lost Garden · Episode 2

Independent guide by the ScreenWeaver team. ScreenWeaver does not organise the Jingrui AI Creation Contest and is not affiliated with Hujing Entertainment or Youku. 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

What the contest asks.

The Jingrui (鲸锐) AI Creation Contest was launched with the Hujing AI Talent Program. Chinese press describes it as a national AI video creation contest, open to individuals and teams.
Organiser
Hujing Entertainment Group (虎鲸文娱), hosted on Youku
Submissions
17 September to 22 November 2026
Prize pool
RMB 10,000,000 across 265 awards
Top prize
Jingrui Talent Award, RMB 2,000,000
Length
At least 10 minutes, with a complete story
Story
A written story of more than 1,000 Chinese characters
Originality
Original work, first released through the contest, no adaptation of existing IP
Tools and genres
Any AI tool, any genre, individuals or teams

Sources: the official page jingrui-ai-competition.youku.com (meta description only), and reports by Cover News (17 September 2026) and QbitAI (19 September 2026), read on 28 October 2026. The results date and rules for entrants outside mainland China are not published in what we could read: check the official page before you enter.

Key dates

Three and a half weeks left.

From late October, the window is short for a 10 minute film. It works if your story and storyboard already exist.

  1. 17 Sep 2026

    Contest launched

    Sign-up opens on the official site, or by searching the contest name on Youku.

  2. 22 Nov 2026

    Submissions close

    The film, at least 10 minutes long, and its written story are due.

  3. After the deadline

    265 shortlisted, top 25 pitch

    265 creators are selected. The top 25 present their work at an in-person proposal meeting to compete for the major prizes. No date is published yet.

How films are judged

Four criteria, no published weights.

Reports list four criteria. The awards themselves say what counts: original IP, creative expression, narrative structure, visual effects and character development each have their own prize.

  • Topic and creativity (选题创意)

    A subject worth ten minutes. The Best Original IP award (RMB 500,000, four winners) shows what the organisers want: a world and characters that could become a series.

  • Narrative technique (叙事技巧)

    Ten minutes is a real structure: setup, turns, a climax. Best Narrative Structure is a separate award. A montage of beautiful shots will not hold.

  • Audiovisual language (视听语言)

    Framing, editing, sound, and consistency. Over 150 to 200 shots, a face that drifts once is seen by everyone.

  • Social value (社会价值)

    A criterion Western contests rarely name. A story about something that matters, told without preaching, scores here.

Each of the 265 winners gets at least RMB 10,000, and the shortlisted creators join the Hujing AI Talent Program: industry salons, screenings and incubation.

Who decides

No jury named yet.

Reports mention well-known Chinese and international directors giving on-site guidance, without saying they judge. Here is what is known of the selection.

  • Shortlist of 265

    Every shortlisted creator wins at least RMB 10,000. Reaching the list is already a paid result: finishing a compliant 10 minute film matters more than any effect.

  • Top 25 pitch in person

    The 25 best present at an offline proposal meeting for the major prizes. Prepare to talk about the world beyond the film: where the IP goes next.

The awards

265 awards, eight tiers.

The prize table from the QbitAI report. Under each, the angle we would take with ScreenWeaver.

  • 01

    Jingrui Talent Award: RMB 2,000,000 (1)

    The top prize, for one creator or team.

    The winner will likely be strong on every criterion at once. A single consistent world over ten minutes is the base everything else stands on.

  • 02

    Best Original IP: RMB 500,000 (4)

    Four awards for the strongest original worlds and characters.

    Write the series bible before the film: characters, rules of the world, what episode 2 would be. The film is the pilot of the IP.

  • 03

    Craft awards: RMB 100,000 (4 × 5)

    Best Creative Expression, Best Narrative Structure, Best Visual Effects and Best Character Development, five winners each.

    Character development rewards a cast that looks and acts the same in every shot. Lock each character’s reference before you generate and reuse it in every scene.

  • 04

    Rising Creator: RMB 50,000 (40)

    Forty awards for promising creators.

    A clean, complete, original film can get here without a big team. Ten minutes done well beats twenty minutes done fast.

  • 05

    Potential Creator: RMB 10,000 (200)

    Two hundred awards: the widest door of any AI film contest this year.

    The minimum is the real filter: 10 minutes, complete, original, with a 1,000 character story. Meet all four and you are in the running.

What the rules teach

A contest built for long form.

This is the first edition, so there are no past winners to study. The rules still say a lot about what wins.

  1. 01

    Ten minutes changes the job. Most AI contests take one to five minutes. At ten, story structure and character consistency become the hard part, not image quality.

  2. 02

    The written story is part of the entry. More than 1,000 Chinese characters. Write it from your screenplay, not after the edit.

  3. 03

    Original IP only. No adaptation of existing works, which rules out fan films and, on our reading, adaptations of classics too. Invent the world.

  4. 04

    First release. The film must premiere through the contest. Do not post it anywhere before 22 November.

From script to screen

Lost Garden: the opening of a 21 minute episode.

The opening of Lost Garden, episode 2, the cave, an animated fantasy series by the ScreenWeaver team. At 21 minutes it shows the scale the Jingrui minimum asks for.

Logline. A newborn knight whose inner light is leaking away crosses a world that has stopped hoping, to find the one blacksmith who can seal his armor.

Screenplay · episode 2 · page 1

INT. UNDERGROUND CAVERN - LOWER PATH - CONTINUOUS

Blue mushrooms the size of houses. LANTERN, a small knight with a lantern for a helm, walks alone.

He presses a hand to his chest. Sparks of light slip between his fingers.

SERRURE

Hold on. You're losing something.

Serrure lifts the edge of the cloak. A gash in the armor. Blue light leaks out like smoke.

SERRURE

That's your energy. What keeps you standing.

He grips Lantern's shoulder. Two knights alone among the crystals.

SERRURE

A suit that leaks goes out. Eventually.

Under the giant mushrooms, the road climbs into the dark.

SERRURE

So. We follow the road.

Serrure points the way. Lantern follows.

CUT TO:

  1. A small knight with a lantern helm stands by a giant glowing blue mushroom in a crystal cavern
    Storyboard frame of the same wide shot, in grey
    01

    Wide · the world

    Wide shot, Lantern alone by a giant glowing blue mushroom, crystal cavern, roots, drifting spores, cold blue light

  2. Close-up of an armored chest under a cream cloak, a gloved hand, a spark of light
    Storyboard frame of the chest close-up, in grey
    02

    Close-up · the chest

    Close-up on Lantern's chest, his gloved hand pressed to the cloak, a spark of light escaping between the fingers

  3. A torn gash in an armor plate leaking bright blue light, a finger pointing at it
    Storyboard frame of the wound insert, in grey
    03

    Insert · the wound

    Extreme close-up, Serrure's finger near a torn gash in the back plate, blue light leaking out like luminous smoke

  4. Two armored knights side by side, one with a hand on the other's shoulder, in a crystal cavern
    Storyboard frame of the two-shot, in grey
    04

    Two-shot · the bond

    Medium two-shot among crystals and roots, Serrure's hand on Lantern's shoulder, faceless armors, emotion through posture only

  5. Two small knights walk beneath two giant glowing blue mushrooms
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    05

    Wide · the scale

    Wide low angle, the two knights tiny beneath two giant glowing mushrooms, blue crystals in the foreground, mist

  6. Seen from behind, a tall dark knight points ahead while the small lantern knight looks on
    Storyboard frame of the over-the-shoulder shot, in grey
    06

    Over the shoulder · the road

    Over-the-shoulder from behind, Serrure points ahead into the cavern, Lantern beside him, roots framing the path

Lost Garden, episode 2, 21 minutes, an animated series by the ScreenWeaver team, made with Seedance. The scene shows what a 10 minute contest film needs: an opening that sets a world in a few shots, the same characters from scene to scene, and a structure that can carry a series. The player starts on this scene.

The script

A 10 minute film in five movements.

Ten minutes is about 10 screenplay pages and 150 to 200 shots of 3 to 4 seconds. Aim for 10:30 so a tight edit still clears the minimum.

  1. 0:00 to 1:00

    The world

    Where we are and what is wrong with it, shown in a few strong images.

  2. 1:00 to 3:00

    The character and the want

    Who we follow, what they want, what stands in the way. The 1,000 character story starts here.

  3. 3:00 to 7:00

    The turns

    Two or three reversals, each with a cost. This is where narrative structure is judged.

  4. 7:00 to 9:00

    The climax

    The choice the film is about. Let sound and silence carry it.

  5. 9:00 to 10:00

    The ending and the door

    A complete ending, plus one image that suggests the next episode: the Original IP awards look for it.

Dialogue in Chinese, or Chinese subtitles, is the safe choice for a contest judged in China. Check the language rule on the official page before you lock the edit.

Plan to the deadline

Three and a half weeks to 22 November.

Honest advice: from scratch, ten finished minutes in under four weeks is a sprint. It works for a team, or for a project already written.
  1. 01

    Days 1 to 4

    Screenplay and written story

    Ten pages in the free Screenwriter plan, then the 1,000 character story from it. Lock the story before anything else.

  2. 02

    Days 5 to 8

    Characters, places, storyboard

    One reference per character and per place, then the storyboard of every scene, generated from the screenplay. This is where a 10 minute film stays consistent.

  3. 03

    Days 9 to 19

    Generate scene by scene

    About 15 to 20 shots a day. Generate in story order so you can cut as you go and see the film grow.

  4. 04

    Days 20 to 25

    Edit, sound, submit

    Edit to 10:30, mix, subtitle, check every rule, and submit before 22 November, not on it. Do not publish the film anywhere else.

Traps to avoid

Six ways to be out before judging.

All come from the published requirements. Read the official page for the rest.

  • Under ten minutes

    9:50 is out. Leave a margin: aim for 10:30 in the final cut, credits not counted.

  • An adaptation

    Existing IP cannot be adapted. A fan film, a novel adaptation or a remake breaks the originality rule.

  • Posting before the contest

    The work must be a first release through the contest. A trailer or the full film on social media before submission puts that at risk.

  • No written story

    The entry includes a story of more than 1,000 Chinese characters. Write it, translate it carefully if needed, and keep it consistent with the film.

  • An unfinished story

    The contest asks for a complete narrative. A cliffhanger is fine as an extra image, not as a substitute for an ending.

  • Assuming you can enter from abroad

    The reports call it a national contest and sign-up runs through Youku. If you live outside mainland China, confirm you are eligible before you start the film.

Why ScreenWeaver

Ten minutes needs a production, not a prompt.

Any AI tool is allowed. What decides a 10 minute film is whether 150 shots still look like one film. ScreenWeaver keeps screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project.

  • A real screenplay

    Ten pages in industry format, for free, with no time limit. Your 1,000 character story comes straight from it.

  • One cast for 150 shots

    Characters, locations and references carry across every scene. That is the Character Development award, and every other criterion too.

  • Footage with Seedance

    Generate each shot from its storyboard frame with Seedance, in the same project, scene by scene.

  • Built for series

    Lost Garden is a series made in ScreenWeaver, with episodes of 17 and 21 minutes. The Original IP awards reward exactly that kind of world.

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 contests

Guides for other contests

Go further

Guides for long AI films

FAQ

The Jingrui AI Creation Contest, your questions

How do you win the Jingrui AI Creation Contest?
Deliver a complete, original film of at least 10 minutes with a written story of 1,000+ Chinese characters. Judges look at topic and creativity, narrative technique, audiovisual language and social value. An original world that could become a series is what the top awards reward.
What is the deadline?
22 November 2026. The contest opened on 17 September 2026. No results date has been published.
How much is the prize money?
RMB 10 million across 265 awards: RMB 2 million for the Jingrui Talent Award, RMB 500,000 for four Best Original IP awards, RMB 100,000 for twenty craft awards, RMB 50,000 for forty Rising Creators and RMB 10,000 for two hundred Potential Creators.
Which AI tools are allowed?
Any. The contest sets no restriction on AI tools or genres. You can write, storyboard and generate the film in ScreenWeaver with Seedance.
Can I enter from outside China?
It is not stated in what we could read. Reports call it a national contest and sign-up runs on Youku. Check the official page or contact the organisers before you start.
Can I adapt a book or a film?
No. The work must be original and premiere through the contest, and existing IP may not be adapted.
What do winners get besides money?
Shortlisted creators join the Hujing AI Talent Program, with industry salons, screenings and incubation. The top 25 pitch at an in-person proposal meeting.

Ten minutes starts with ten pages.

Write the screenplay for free today, storyboard every scene, then generate the film with Seedance.
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