terms & rules

Please make sure you read our Terms & Rules before submitting your work. All persons and entities entering their work automatically agree to these terms and conditions.

Production companies, post production companies, editing houses, music production companies, digital production companies, independent professionals, advertising agencies and clients from all over the world are welcome to enter their work.
CICLOPE promotes the participation of all countries, which gives the festival an international profile. English has been established as the official language. Pieces can be registered in any language, but ENGLISH SUBTITLES ARE MANDATORY for films in other languages (except in the Music Videos section).
The registration of the pieces, as well as the payment, has to be made exclusively through the online registration system or via wire transfer. The piece/s will only be considered registered once the uploading process is complete and the corresponding payment has been made. Important: Entry fees are not refundable under any circumstances. CICLOPE is not responsible for incorrect or incomplete entries.
The registered pieces must be entered with the authorization of the advertiser, the agency and/or the owner of the reproduction rights of the work. It’s the participant’s sole responsibility to comply with this rule. The Festival shall not be held accountable for any type of responsibility that may arise in the shape of legal claims of third parties for this or any other motive related to the intellectual property or reproduction rights of the work.
Commercials submitted to CICLOPE Festival should have been commissioned by a brand. Spec commercials are only eligible in the New Talent in Commercials and Unsigned Director category. The piece must include a statement at the beginning indicating this.
CICLOPE Awards entry deadline is 15 August, 2025. The pieces must have been broadcast for the first time between 24 August, 2024 and 15 August, 2025.
CICLOPE and/or the jury, if necessary, will have the right to request proof of an entry’s broadcast in any stage of the contest, and the participant will be required to submit it within 72 hours. If the proof of the work’s broadcast is not provided before the deadline, the piece will be automatically disqualified.
Without any exception, pieces that have been submitted for previous editions of the festival are not able to participate.
CICLOPE and the jury, at its sole discretion when considered necessary, reserves the right to disqualify or change pieces to a different category from the one originally registered, without the need to communicate it with the entrants.
With the purpose of promoting the Festival, and when considered appropriate, the organization is authorized to project and/or publish in public or private presentations the registered pieces free of charge, without the need of any type of compensation to third parties.
The participant declares to own the broadcasting rights of the work and holds the Festival unaccountable from all third party claims (this includes individuals and/or companies).
Entries to CICLOPE should remain anonymous to jury members, and should not include any credits or logos from the production companies or creative agencies involved. If an entry includes credits or logos, the organization will contact the entrant company and ask the info to be removed. If after 48 hours of being contacted there’s no answer, CICLOPE reserves the right to disqualify the entry without notification. Entry fees for disqualified entries will not be refunded. This also applies to any supporting material.
Campaigns are only eligible in their respective categories (Campaign and Animated Campaign) as well as in the Ideas and Innovation section. In all remaining sections the jury will only evaluate the craft in single pieces, so multiple films or pieces in a campaign should be entered separately.
In the case of an entered piece not complying with the aforementioned requirements, or any others expressed in the Terms and Rules, CICLOPE, at its sole discretion will exercise the right to automatically remove or disqualify the piece without the need of compensation or severance pay to the participating company or person.
CICLOPE’s judging process consists of three rounds. The first one is undertaken by the Grand and Executive Juries, who watch and rank the entries on CICLOPE’s online platform. The highest-ranked entries in each category will be considered Finalists. In the second round of judging, the Executive Jury will gather in Berlin to personally discuss the finalist pieces and award Gold, Silver and/or Bronze trophies in each category. The Executive Jury will also have the chance to award a Grand Prix per section to the most outstanding work in the competition. If you would like to know more information, please reach out to awards@ciclopefestival.com.
In case the Jury decides, by majority, that the work submitted into a category does not meet a minimum quality standard, any category can be declared vacant.
To avoid conflicts of interest, judges will abstain from voting on entries in which they or their companies (or companies from their global network) were involved.
All winners will be announced on Thursday, 9 October 2025 at the CICLOPE Awards ceremony in Berlin. Winners not present at the ceremony will receive their trophies by courier.
The Special Awards and the final ranking published by CICLOPE Festival at the end of the event are based on a points system where a company receives 1 (one) point for a Finalist submission, 3 (three) points for a Bronze award, 7 (seven) points for a Silver award, 15 (fifteen) points for a Gold award and 25 (twenty-five) points for a Grand Prix.
The ranking calculation for Best Production Company, Best Agency, Best Brand and Best Director is based on all finalist entries and awards won by a credited company throughout all the categories. Both agencies, production companies, brands and directors should have 3 or more shortlisted commercials, music videos or short films to contend for the award. For the other special awards, only points won on the specific categories are considered, and they should have at least 2 shortlisted projects to contend. Production Companies and Agencies’ final scoring is based on the entries made by any office of the company around the world.
All Festival schedules and lineups are subject to change without prior notice.