Submission Requirements | modcityarts.com

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Actively enrolled students from the following junior high/middle schools and high schools (see full list at bottom of the page) are invited to submit entries for the 2026 ModCityArts Media Festival Contest. Students may submit work in one of three main categories: Graphic Design, Photography, and/or Video. Each of these three main categories offers entry opportunities in various subcategories.

High school CTE students must name their CTE teacher on submission form and all middle school entrants must list one sponsoring middle school teacher on their entry form. A "sponsoring teacher" is a teacher at your school who is familiar with your work, knows you are entering this work in the contest, and is available for contact if necessary).

The submission window for all entries is March 16-20, 2026. The final deadline for submissions is March 20, 2026 at 11:59pm. The submission link will be located at the top of modcityarts.com website.

Students and teachers are responsible for correctly completing submission form. Incorrect or missing information is subject to disqualification.

Award winning entries will be announced April 3, with first, second, third, and honorable mention awards announced at the 2026 ModCityArts Media Festival Awards Ceremony on April 15 (6-8pm) at the State Theater in downtown Modesto. Admission is free and open to entrants, family and friends.

ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES:
Students may submit up to six entries total, but no more than three (3) graphic designs, five (5) photos, and/or four (4) videos entries. You can submit in any combination up to six entries (for example, 2 photos + 2 videos + 2 graphic design; or, 3 photos + 1 video + 2 graphic design; or 3 photos + 3 videos, etc).

All entries are individual entries except video, where a team of up to 4 students may enter together. (If you are part of a team entry, this counts as one of your six total entries.)

All submissions must be created during the current 2025-26 school year. All work must meet Modesto City Schools guidelines and conduct code. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Use of weapons
Drugs or alcohol
Profanity
Sexual references and innuendo
Anything else deemed inappropriate

Any submission that does not meet these guidelines will NOT be considered for judging and will NOT be selected to screen at ModCityArts.

USE OF ORIGINAL WORK: All music, images, titles, footage and other copyrighted material used in your submission MUST be properly licensed. You must have permission and/or the proper rights to all content submitted (the exception is the Music Video category). Other than the remake category, students will be scored on originality. Students who draw upon existing work MUST cite the source of the material in the Google Submission Form.

TEACHER CONTRIBUTION TO STUDENT ENTRIES
ModCityArts recognizes the valuable collaboration that occurs between teachers and CTE students. We understand that in many learning environments, teachers may directly contribute to content design, content production, directing, and direct hands-on editing. As a result of these student-teacher partnerships, the collaboration leads to high end production that helps develop student skills while simultaneously benefiting the school, the district and the Modesto community.

However, to maintain fairness and ensure that entries reflect student work, teacher involvement must be limited. While ModCityArts respects this specific form of teacher-student collaboration, student work submitted for award consideration must be primarily created, directed, and edited by students. Teacher involvement should be limited to initial instruction, support/guidance, and feedback.

Teachers and non CTE students may not contribute directly to individual student submissions.
Only current junior high/middle school and current CTE high school students may contribute directly to submissions.
All content must be generated/created by jr high/middle school and high school CTE students alone.
Students must write original scripts unless scene remake, or movie trailer (video entries)
Students must perform the role of director, including on set directing (video entries)
Students must perform all aspects of the editing process.
The actions teachers may play in student work submitted to contest:
Teach students the fundamentals of digital art
Train students to operate equipment
Inspire students by sharing professional work from the field
Create opportunities for students to create content
Give feedback and guidance for student work

GRAPHIC DESIGN CATEGORIES (One designer per design entry)
1. Digital Illustration Digitally manipulated original artwork. (Artwork based on photos should be submitted to Digital Manipulation–Photography)
2. Poster Design Promotional artwork that incorporates typography with visual design.
3. Logo Original or Redesign Original commercial design used to identify a brand or product or a redesign of an existing logo.
4. Motion Design Short animated scene or graphic (10 sec max)
5. 3D Modeling Original three dimensional artwork.

GRAPHIC DESIGN TECHNICAL GUIDELINES:

All submissions must be digital.
Submissions are limited to three (3) overall Graphic Design entries
Only one (1) submission per subcategory.
All graphic design elements in the submission must be original (Motion Design category is the exception)
File must be a jpg, png, pdf ,or mp4 for motion design.
Graphic Designs must meet a minimum of 1000px x 1000px and maximum of 5000px x 5000px.
Use File Name Convention: LastName_FirstName_SchoolName_Project01.jpg (EX: JohnDoe_Downey_Animation01.jpg)

PHOTOGRAPHY CATEGORIES (One photographer per photo entry).

1. Candid A photo that captures natural moments without posed subjects
2. Sports Action A photo that captures action, energy from an athletic events
3. Nature A photo that focuses on plants, animals, or natural environment
4. Landscape/Cityscape A photo showcases wide scenes of natural landscape or urban environment.
5. Portrait A photo that focuses on a person/animal expression and personality
6. Commercial A photo that is created to promote, advertise or sell a product.
7. Photo Manipulation Significant altering a photograph using various digital techniques (Entries must be based on student’s original photography and/or digital art)
8. Still Life A photo of arranged objects used to create an artistic composition.
9. Photo Recreation A photo that recreates or reinterprets an existing image, artwork or famous scene. The photo must be divided into two parts, original on left, recreation on right.
10. Event Feature A photo that captures important moments, people, and atmosphere at a specific event or activity.

PHOTO TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

All submissions must be digital
Submissions are limited to five (5) overall Photography entries
Only one (1) submission per subcategory.
With the exception of basic editing (cropping, color correction, or desaturation) any digitally altered photos will be moved to the Photo Manipulation category.
File must be a jpg, png, or pdf file.
Photos must meet a minimum of 1000px x 1000px and maximum of 5000px x 5000px.
Use File Name Convention: LastName_FirstName_SchoolName_01.jpg (EX: JohnDoe_Johansen_Sports01.jpg)

VIDEO CATEGORIES
[Teams of up to four per video entry: director(s), producer(s), editor(s)] REVIEW TECHNICAL GUIDELINES BEFORE SUBMITTING WORK.

1. Non-fiction: (1-3 min max) A video based on real people, events or issues intended to inform or document.

2. Fiction: (1-6 min max) A video that tells a scripted or imaginative story using created characters or scenarios (like a movie, show, or short film).

3. PSA/Commercial/Promo: (1-3 min max) A video to inform, persuade, or promote a product, service, cause or event.

4. Short Film/Scene Remake: (1-3 min max) A short narrative video or recreation of a scene that demonstrates storytelling and filmmaking skills (may include licensed music).

5. Animation: (3 min max) A video created using digitally or physically animated images to create the illusion of motion and tell a story.

6. Vertical School Promo Reel: (30-1:30 min) A vertical format video designed to promote a school, program, or event for social media platforms.

7. Music Video: 1-3 min max A video that visually interprets a song through storytelling (original song may be shortened for time).

8. Original Movie Trailer: 1 min max. A short promotional video that previews a film by highlighting its story characters and tone to capture audience interest.

VIDEO TECHNICAL GUIDELINES:

Your submission’s total run time must NOT exceed the specified time limit for the category you are submitting (See categories and time limits below).
Submissions are limited to four (4) overall video category entries
Only one (1) submission per subcategory.
We strongly recommend that you triple check your audio levels.
We will only accept the .MP4 file format.
Please submit your film in 1080 HD. Any film files that are larger than 4GBs will not be accepted.
Films that are accepted into the festival will be screened in 16:9 aspect ratio. If your film is submitted in a different ratio, your film will be letterboxed to display on the 16:9 screen.
Any film that includes main dialogue that is not English must be submitted with English subtitles. If your film has subtitles please make sure they are "Title Safe." Click here for a detailed explanation of "Title Safe.”
When uploading your submission, you must use the following file naming conventions: FirstNameLastName_SchoolName_FilmTitle.mp4 (Example: JohnDoe_Gregori_MyMovie.mp4)

All music, images, titles, footage and other copyrighted material used in your submission MUST be properly licensed. You must have permission and/or the proper rights to all content submitted. (Again, the exception to this is Music Video, Movie Scene Remake, and Original Movie Trailer)
There are various resources that offer royalty free music and images such as freesound.org, incompetech.com, etc.
AI-generated content is strictly prohibited. This includes synthetic images, deepfakes, text-to-video/audio, or anything that alters reality.

DISCLAIMER: By submitting an Entry, each Entrant agrees: (a) to abide by these Terms and the decisions of the Festival, which shall be final and binding in all respects relating to this Contest; (b) to the use of his/her name, voice, performance, photograph/film, image, and/or likeness for programming, advertising, publicity, and promotional purposes in any and all media, now or hereafter known, including without limitation, on the Internet, and in perpetuity by the Festival.

JR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOLS ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT ENTRIES
Students from the following junior high and middle schools are invited to submit entries:
Glick Middle School Great Valley Academy Hanshaw Middle School
Hart-Ransom Charter School La Loma Jr. High Mark Twain Jr. High Prescott Jr. High Roosevelt Jr. High Savage Middle School Somerset Middle School Salida Middle School Tuolumne Jr. High
Ustach Middle School

HIGH SCHOOLS ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT ENTRIES
CTE students from the following high schools are invited to submit entries:
Beyer High Davis High Downey High Elliot High Enochs High
Gregori High Johansen High Modesto High