A Melbourne awards night for AI creators has five days left on its late entry window
VIC AI Awards 2026 accepts work in eight categories until 20 October. Winners get crystal trophies and are announced on 30 October at Quarterhouse, Docklands.
If you have made something with AI tools in the last few years, an animation, a music video, an ad, a short film, there is a room in Melbourne that wants to see it. The VIC AI Awards 2026 is running its late deadline until 20 October 2026, which gives anyone reading this five days to get an entry in.
The awards sit inside VIC AI Boom 2026, a Melbourne event, and the ceremony itself is on 30 October at Quarterhouse in Docklands. Entry is worldwide, and the organiser allows any AI tools, so there is no approved software list to check your workflow against. The catch is that the prize is a trophy and not money, so this one is about recognition and a stage, not a payout.
What you submit
There are eight categories: AI Animation, AI Art, AI Campaign/Commercial, AI Influencer, AI Music/Music Videos, AI Social Media Content, AI in Gaming and AI Short Films. Your content must run under three hours, and it must not have screened before January 2020. Given how recent most generative AI work is, that second rule will rarely bite, but check it if you are submitting older footage.
Entries go through the festival's FilmFreeway page. The official listing was last verified on 5 October 2026.
Prize structure
Each category winner receives a crystal trophy. Three special awards sit above the categories: Best in Australia, Best in the World and Rising Star. The page does not mention cash, credits, funding or a screening deal, so treat the trophy as the whole prize. Trophies are posted to winners who cannot attend in person, which matters for entrants outside Australia.
Dates worth writing down
- Late deadline: 20 October 2026
- Notification: 23 October 2026
- Winners announced: 30 October 2026, Quarterhouse, Docklands, Melbourne
The page gives no cutoff time or timezone for the 20 October deadline. Submit with a day in hand, ideally by 19 October, rather than testing the last hour of the closing date on a platform you may not have used before.
Terms worth reading
The entry fee is not stated on the awards page, which only says to see FilmFreeway. Do not assume entry is free. Check the fee on the FilmFreeway listing before you pay or upload anything. The page also does not summarise rights, licensing or how entries may be used by the organiser, and the official listing gives no terms text to quote. Read the full rules on FilmFreeway, in particular any clause about screening, promotion or licensing your film, before you submit. That is standard diligence for any festival entry, and more so for one whose public page says so little about rights.
Before you enter
Open the FilmFreeway page, confirm the fee and the exact closing time, pick the one category that fits your work best, and upload with time to spare. Notification comes on 23 October, a week before the ceremony.