A Free London Film Contest Closes Today and Pays 500 Pounds Plus 20,000 Credits

If you have a short film mostly built in TapNow, today is the last day to enter the first of four seasonal competitions that lead to the MetaMorph AI Award 2027. The Autumn Activation closes on 15 October 2026, entry costs nothing, and the winner receives real money as well as software credits.

This is a short notice item, so the practical details come first. The contest is run by MetaMorph in partnership with TapNow, it is open worldwide, and the winner will be announced on 30 October 2026 in London. The official listing confirms free entry, and submissions go through FilmFreeway.

What you submit

The contest takes short films and experimental work. The central condition is that at least 50% of the film must be generated using TapNow, and the work must be built on a public canvas. That second requirement matters: anyone who has been developing a piece in a private workspace will need to make that canvas public before entering, so allow time for it.

The listing does not state a maximum running time, a file specification or a required format. Check the FilmFreeway entry page for those details before you start uploading.

Prize structure

The seasonal winner receives 500 pounds in cash plus 20,000 TapNow credits. The runner-up receives 10,000 TapNow credits, with no cash mentioned. Credits are software currency inside TapNow, so they are useful mainly if you intend to keep making work on that platform. Only the winner's 500 pounds is money you can spend elsewhere.

Finalists also advance to the MetaMorph Award 2027, the larger competition the four seasons feed into. The listing does not publish the prize for that final award, so treat the advancement as a route to a bigger stage rather than a guaranteed payout.

The wider calendar

If you miss today, the series continues. The Winter activation closes on 30 December 2026, the Spring activation on 15 March 2027, and the Summer activation on 15 May 2027. A film that is not ready now could be developed for one of those rounds, though each round presumably carries its own entry.

Terms worth reading

The entry is free and the listing is open to entrants worldwide, which is creator-friendly on its face. However, the summary page does not reproduce the full rules, and it says nothing about who owns the film, whether the organisers may screen or publish entries, or what licence you grant by entering. The public canvas requirement also means your generation process will be visible to anyone, which may matter if you consider your prompts or workflow part of your craft.

Before you submit, read the full terms on the FilmFreeway page, especially the clauses on rights, licences and promotional use of finalists' work.

Deadline note

The listing gives the date, 15 October 2026, but publishes no cutoff time or timezone. Treat the deadline as potentially falling early in the day for London, and submit as soon as you can rather than waiting for the evening.

Source: MetaMorph x TapNow Autumn Activation on AI Film Contests