The International Digital Media Alliance (IDMA, f/k/a DVDA) has issued its Call
for Entries in the 2009 IDMA Excellence Awards, one of the industry’s longest
running events and the only optical disc awards program judged exclusively by
peers to recognize best of class work in each of 21 categories.

The purpose of the IDMA Excellence Awards is to honor skill, creativity and
craftsmanship in various aspects of digital media production and authoring.
Overall quality of a finished entry is considered, but skills used in the production
of each title, and excellence achieved, determine which entries will win.

Excellence Award entries of different formats do not compete directly against
each other, as in typical competitions. Using objective criteria, an independent
panel of digital media practitioners assigns each entry a score of up to 100
points. There may be many, or few award recipients in each category. Only
entries deemed “excellent” by the judges earn the IDMA Excellence award.

“This year, the IDMA has opened the Excellence Awards to online and interactive
formats, in recognition of the growing importance of online media,” says Bruce
Nazarian, President of IDMA. “In keeping with our history of rewarding the best
of the best, our judges will be recognizing excellence regardless of the entry’s
format.”

There are a total of 22 categories. Seven categories recognize Content Owners,
seven categories for Developers, seven new categories are for Online/Interactive
media and one category for the coveted Facility/ Individual Excellence Award.
These categories include not only Hollywood and independent optical disc titles
for entertainment, but also non-entertainment (kiosks, marketing, education),
online video, web user experiences, and podcasts.

CONTENT OWNER EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Categories:
• Children’s
• Theatrical
• Music Titles
• Games
• Television Series
• Special Features
• Advanced Interactivity/Connectivity (new)

DEVELOPER EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Categories:
• Menus and Presentation
• Audio/Music Quality
• Authoring Design
• Video Encoding
• Non-Entertainment
• Technical Achievement
• Advanced Interactivity/Connectivity (new)

ONLINE/INTERACTIVE EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Categories:
• Excellence in User Experience
• Excellence in Advertising Integration
• Excellence in Streaming Video
• Excellence in Downloadable Video
• Excellence in Audio Podcast
• Excellence in SD Video Podcast (under 960 pixels width)
• Excellence in HD Video Podcast (960+ pixels width)

FACILITY/INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
• Facility or Individual Excellence Award
This is a “craft” award recognizing excellence in a body of work
from a production facility or individual.

A $25 discount off the $150 entry fee is available to all IDMA/DVDA members.

Complete rules, conditions and entry forms are at www.IDMADVDA.org