What a year of entering things actually costs
Eight routes to being seen, priced from zero to £120 a category. Entering the same video into four awards and three outlets comes to several hundred pounds before anyone has watched it.
Submission fees are a real line in a freelance year and almost nobody budgets for them. Here is the current price of being considered, taken from each organisation's own entry page.
| Route | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ToruńCAMERIMAGE, Music Videos Competition | Free | 2026 call closed 31 July; 2027 call not yet open |
| Promonews submission | No fee stated | PRO membership £9.99/month, £24.99/quarter or £99/year gives priority |
| Porto Music Video Festival | €15 per category | €49 for all categories |
| Munich Music Video Awards | €29 per category | €99 all categories; notification three days after the deadline |
| International Music Video Awards | €35–49 per category | €119 for all 34; the three headline categories cost €49 |
| Berlin Music Video Awards | $45 early bird | Best Music Video and Best Production Company are a flat $85 |
| Directors Notes | £47 | Under 40 minutes; £77 for features; non-refundable |
| UK Music Video Awards | £120 + VAT per category | £80 for Best Low Budget Video or Visualiser |
The arithmetic nobody does
Take one video and enter it sensibly: one category at the UKMVA (£120 + VAT), two at Munich (€58), two at the International Music Video Awards including a headline category (€84), the Berlin early bird ($45), and Directors Notes (£47). That is comfortably over £300 before a single person has pressed play, and none of it is refundable if nobody does.
Two structural points worth internalising. Almost everything is priced per category, not per film, so the cost scales with ambition rather than with the work. And the all-categories bundles are only good value if the video could plausibly place in several; otherwise they are a way of turning one entry into five.
The cheapest serious route is free
ToruńCAMERIMAGE charges nothing for its music video competition and awards a Golden Frog. It is judged on cinematography rather than concept, so it suits a particular kind of video, but at zero cost it belongs on every list. Its 2026 call opened in late February, so the spring is when to look.
A figure here out of date? Send us the current source and we will update the page and date the change.
