AI film contests with cash prizes

AI Film Award 2027 — 1 Billion Followers Summit

1 Billion Followers Summit

Make an original 5-7 minute film, at least 70% generated with Seedance, on one of five humanity-focused themes. The Top 5 premiere at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai, where one creator wins $1,000,000.

1 Billion Followers Summit – AI Film Award 2027

Unknown

A global original AI narrative short film award across five themes: society, human connection, climate, misinformation, and human–AI relationships. The competition encourages innovative storytelling using AI tools. Winners will be recognized for their contributions to these themes.

Cine Prague AI Film Festival 2026

Cine Prague AI Film Festival

International AI short film festival in Prague welcoming AI-generated, AI-assisted and traditional short films up to 5 minutes; finalists screen at Kino Edison with a $1,000 Grand Prix awarded December 1, 2026.

Artefact AI Film Festival — 3rd Edition, "(Dis)Connection"

Artefact and mk2

Third edition of the Paris short film festival for work made with generative AI, run by Artefact with mk2, with Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano as jury presidents. Theme: (Dis)Connection. Films can run up to 314 seconds, one entry per person, and must use at least one Gen AI tool in each of pre-production, production and post-production. Grand prize €10,000 plus a 30-second cut of the winning film screened in all mk2 theaters for one week.

2026 AI Holiday Film Competition — Curious Refuge x Epidemic Sound

Curious Refuge x Epidemic Sound

The largest prize pool ever for a fully AI-generated holiday short — Epidemic Sound and Curious Refuge return with $7,500+ in cash for winners. Warm, weird, or wildly cinematic — make something people rewatch every December. Deadline December 6.

Gossip Goblin x Showrunner Competition

Showrunner (Fable)

Make a 2 to 20 minute short film in Showrunner Studio set in the Gossip Goblin universe. Every story starts with a client sitting down in a Ripper Doc's chair.

AKOOL AI Film Challenge

AKOOL

AKOOL's AI Film Challenge has three categories: Coming Never (an original 30 to 90 second trailer for a film that does not exist), AI Short Film, and Impossible (ideas that could not have been made before AI). Other tools are allowed, but AKOOL must be meaningfully used in the final film. Apply via AKOOL's form, publish the film tagging @AKOOL with #AKOOLFilmChallenge, then submit and explain how you used AKOOL.

NEXMUSE AI Music Video Contest 2027

AI Art Co., Ltd. (NEXMUSE)

An international AI music video contest where entrants build an original AI-made song and video around one of 24 AI idol-hopeful characters NEXMUSE provides, with winning tracks getting a professional re-arrangement and an official idol-album debut.

MetaMorph x TapNow — Winter Activation

MetaMorph × TapNow

Second of four free seasonal AI filmmaking competitions leading to the MetaMorph AI Award 2027; at least 50% of each film must be generated with TapNow on a public canvas.

Runway Hundred Film Fund

Runway

Rolling grant fund offering $5K–$1M+ per project plus up to $2M in Runway credits. Decisions within ~14 days.

Global AI Music Video Awards (GAIMVA) 2027

GAIMVA / Festhome

The first international awards festival dedicated exclusively to AI-generated and AI-assisted music videos. Deadline January 1, 2027. Welcomes fully AI-generated, hybrid, experimental, narrative, performance-based, animated, vertical, student-made, and human+AI collaboration works — the widest AI music video category set anywhere.

IA Play International Film Festival Madrid

Cultural Beast

A €6-entry gateway into Madrid's AI film circuit — one of the cheapest submission fees around — with a January 1, 2027 final deadline and four distinct sections spanning 100% AI fiction, animation, hybrid narrative and web series. Gala screening March 20, 2027 at Cine Artistic Metropol.

Chroma Awards — Season 2

Chroma Awards (incubated by ElevenLabs)

Season 2 of the ElevenLabs-incubated AI film and media competition (founded 2023 as Project Odyssey). Submissions opened October 19, 2026 and close January 7, 2027 at 11:45 PM PT. Five divisions (Film, Advertising, Music Video, Games, Behind-the-Scenes) plus Student Awards; $450,000+ in cash and travel perks. Projects made after February 1, 2026 are eligible, unlimited entries, one category per project. Winners announced February 11, 2027; gala April 2027.

Hollywood AI Short Film Awards (HASFA) 2027

Hollywood AI Short Film Awards

Second season of the Hollywood AI Short Film Awards, honouring films that make meaningful creative use of AI across development, production, post, animation, visual design and audio. The 2027 ceremony runs during Super Bowl Weekend at the London West Hollywood Screening Room on 13 February 2027.

Cannes Film Awards 2027 — New AI Category

Cannes Film Awards

Cannes Film Awards just opened dedicated categories for AI films, VR, games, and 360° video for the very first time. Event date: June 25–27, 2027 on the Riviera. $1K+ cash and $25K+ in promotional/partner awards on the line. If you want a Cannes credit on an AI short, this is the cleanest entry point on the calendar.

IA Play International Film Festival — Panamá

IA Play International Film Festival / Cultural Beast

International competition for AI-driven audiovisual work, with online screenings and a public/jury vote in Panama City feeding into a Grand Final among the festival's host cities. Accepts fiction, documentary, experimental, animation, and hybrid AI+traditional works up to 40 minutes.