Chroma Awards Season 2 is open with over $450,000 in cash prizes for AI filmmakers who use Kling
Kling AI has partnered with the Chroma Awards for a second season, offering $450K+ in cash, $1M+ in promotional opportunities and student internships across five divisions.
The biggest AI film competition on the calendar just got a bigger purse. Season 2 of the Chroma Awards is open, and Kling AI is the partner behind it, with more than $450,000 in cash prizes on the table.
That is not the whole pot. @Kling_ai says the season also carries over $1M in promotional opportunities, plus student internships. For anyone who has been sitting on a finished short, a music video or an ad spot made with AI tools, this is the clearest reason yet to get it out the door.
What is actually on offer
Kling lists five divisions: Film & TV, Ads, Music Videos, Games, and Behind-the-Scenes. That spread matters. Most AI film contests reward the short film and leave everything else as an afterthought. Here, a branded spot or a game cinematic competes in its own lane, and a Behind-the-Scenes category gives credit to the people who document the process, not only the final cut.
There is also an incentive to use Kling itself. The announcement says that using Kling AI in your submission and sharing your work on social media unlocks additional prizes and perks. So the headline money is open, but the extras are tied to the sponsor's tool. That is a normal sponsorship arrangement. It is still worth reading as one.
What was not said
The post as scouted is cut off just as it says submissions are now open. That leaves several things I cannot report. There is no deadline in the text we have. There is no stated split of the $450K across divisions, so we do not know what first place in Ads pays against first place in Film & TV. There is no word on eligibility rules, such as whether Kling is mandatory for the main prizes or only for the bonus ones. Nor is there anything on rights, meaning who owns or can reuse a winning entry.
The student internships are also vague. We do not know who offers them, where they are based, or how many exist.
Treat the $1M promotional figure with the usual caution. Promotional opportunities are exposure, not cash, and their value depends entirely on who delivers them and when.
How it sits against the alternatives
The Chroma Awards arrive in the same week as a wider push by Kling to put Kling 4.0 work in front of filmmakers, including a creator-experience series and a run of action-sequence showcases. A contest is the natural next step. It generates a library of public work made with the model, and it hands Kling a pool of creators who now have a reason to talk about it.
For you, that is a fair trade if the work you were going to make anyway fits. It is a poor one if you would be bending a project around a single tool to chase a bonus.
What to test first
Start with the rules, not the footage. Read the full terms at the link in the original post and answer three questions. Is the deadline realistic for the project you have? Does the tool requirement apply to the cash prizes or only the extras? What rights are you granting on entry?
If those check out, pick the division where you are strongest and where fewer people are likely to enter. Ads and Behind-the-Scenes tend to be thinner fields than Film & TV. A tight, well-documented process piece can beat a crowded short film category.
If you already have Kling 4.0 work in progress, an entry costs you little. If you do not, do not rush to start from scratch before you know the deadline.
The practical read
Cash prizes at this level are rare in AI filmmaking, and five divisions give working filmmakers more than one way in. The missing details are the ones that decide whether it is worth your time. Get the deadline and the rights terms in front of you first, then decide.