Official Contest Rules

Goal

The goal of the AIST Foundation Real Steel Video Contest (the “Video Contest”) is to challenge students to research the steel industry and produce a three-minute original video that educates viewers on a predetermined, steel-related theme.

Video Submission Guidelines

Each video contest submission should educate viewers on the 2025 theme, “Who Would You Be In Steel?” and include at least two of the following key components:

• Interview with recent graduate(s) who work for a steel-producing or steel-related company that explains the benefits of working in the industry.
• Potential job titles and responsibilities an individual with your educational background may earn in their steel career.
• Unique examples of how professionals with your educational background can work to improve the steel industry.
• Ideas on how steel companies can attract and retain more young professionals as the industry’s needs evolve and grow.

A teacher/faculty member at the school must serve as the Faculty Sponsor for each entry. Faculty Sponsors may include this Video Contest as part of their class curriculum, or as a separate activity for their students. One student on the team will serve as the Student Captain.

Eligibility Requirements

The Video Contest is open to all high school students (grades 9–12), post-secondary trade/technical school students, and college and university students. There is no limit to the number of entries that may be submitted, but a maximum of three videos per university can advance to the finals.

Selection Process

During the month of February, the public will play a part in determining the six finalists whose videos will be voted upon by a predetermined Video Contest Committee. The six videos with the highest number of “likes” and an average view duration of 50% or more will advance to the finals.

Once the six finalists are identified, the Video Contest Committee will evaluate the videos based on the integration of key elements identified in the Video Submission Guidelines section above.

Prizes

A total of up to five (5) prizes of US$1,000, and one (1) prize of US$3,000 for the overall best video, may be awarded. Prizes are issued in a single check or via PayPal and should be divided among project team members.

Video Contest Timeline

Submission Requirements

In order for a Video Contest submission to be eligible, the Faculty Sponsor or Student Captain must submit the completed online Entry Form by 31 October 2024.
Videos must be submitted via DropBox (preferred) by 5 p.m. EST on 31 December 2024, or postmarked by the same date and time. Any entries sent or postmarked after the deadline will not be included in the competition.

Files submitted must be labeled with the student captain’s name and title of the video.

• If sending via DropBox (preferred), be sure to include the student captain’s name, title of video, school name, student captain’s email address and length of video in the body of the email message.

• If sending via mail, the disk must be labeled with the complete school name, title of video, student captain’s name, student captain’s email address and length of video, written on the disk itself.

The final product should be a single video file that plays when opened using Windows Media Player. We will not accept a DVD or file with a format/title page with a “Click here to play,” message. A single video file that plays when clicked is required.

Entries should be submitted to:

Via DropBox:
Courtney Young
cyoung@aist.org

Via Mail:
Courtney Young
AIST
186 Thorn Hill Road
Warrendale, PA 15086 USA

 Video Requirements

• a) Each Submission must be no longer than three minutes (180 seconds) in length.

• b) Contestants will be required to review and agree to Video Contest Rules as outlined herein.

• c) After agreeing to the Video Contest Rules, the Entrant will be required to submit the Video Contest Entry Form.

• d) Prizes will only be awarded at the discretion of the Video Contest judges, for the best videos they feel meet the Video Contest criteria.

• e) Videos should not contain any identifying information regarding the creators of the video, so that the entry may be judged impartially — without knowledge of who made the video or where it came from. This information will be added later for the entries that win the competition.

• f) The Submission must be your own original work, created solely by you. It must not have been previously published, released or distributed in any form; must not have won any award; and must not infringe the copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary rights of any person or entity. Please refer to the “Fair Use” description on YouTube for a thorough explanation of what may be used from the internet: https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html. Under eligible circumstances, the creator of a video may use various images/clips taken from acceptable sources to compose their own unique work.

• g) Music used in the submission must not violate copyright laws or require any additional clearances for AIST to use or post on public websites or to use in public forums of any kind.

• h) Narration of videos should be in English.

• i) The Submission must not contain or reference any names, products or services of any company or entity or any third-party trademarks, logos, trade dress, or promotion of any brand, product or service — unless permission is obtained in writing and submitted with entry.

• j) If any persons appear or are referred to in the Submission, you are solely responsible for obtaining consent prior to submitting your video. Formal submission of your video will represent any required clearances. In the event where clearances are not covered, video submission will be disqualified from the competition.

• k) Submissions that are lewd, obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic, disparaging, defamatory, libelous, or Submissions that otherwise contain inappropriate content or objectionable material may not be submitted and may be removed at any time at AIST’s discretion.

• l) The Submission must not contain any personally identifiable information during the video itself. School name, etc., should appear in a separate introduction on the disk, prior to the actual video content.

• m) You may not be, nor may you work with, parties in conjunction with your Submission who are: (1) represented under contract (e.g., by a talent agent or manager) that would limit or impair AIST’s ability to display your Submission in any media form; (2) subject to an acting or modeling contract that would make your/their appearance in the Submission a violation of any third-party rights; or (3) under any other contractual relationship, including but not limited to guild and/or union memberships, that may prevent AIST from being able to use the Submissions worldwide in all media in perpetuity on a royalty-free basis, without any payment or fee obligations.

AIST reserves the right, at its discretion, to disqualify any submission that it believes violates or potentially violates any governing laws, foregoes Video Contest requirements or otherwise fails to comply with any provision of these Official Rules. The decisions of AIST on this and all matters pertaining to the Video Contest shall be final and binding with no right of appeal.

Entrants agree to indemnify and hold AIST harmless from and against any suits, claims, losses, damages and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees that may arise from or in connection with any Entrant’s Submission and the use and or display of the Entrant’s Submission.

Video File Format

All video files should be submitted via DropBox or disk.
Aspect ratio should be 16:9.
Resolution should be at least 1280 x 720 pixels.
Format should be Compressed Windows Media File.

Other Conditions

AIST reserves the right to change these Official Rules at any time, at its discretion, and to cancel, suspend, terminate or modify the Video Contest if AIST determines, in its discretion, that completing the Video Contest as planned is not possible, including due to force majeure, technical corruption, or any other causes beyond AIST’s reasonable control that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Video Contest.

AIST is not liable for any injuries, broken equipment, or materials and services purchased and/or used by the participants during video production. Participant assumes all responsibility for damages, injuries and cost. AIST reserves the right to broadcast entries once submitted. Forms of broadcast include, but are not limited to, streaming on the AIST and Material Advantage websites, YouTube or similar sites. By submitting a video, the participants grant all rights, title and interest to AIST in broadcasting, but still maintain ownership of the video concept. AIST is not responsible for copyright errors made in the videos.

For answers to questions about the Video Contest, please contact Courtney Young at the Association for Iron & Steel Technology:

cyoung@aist.org, or call +1.724.814.3096.