Hi

Hopefully, we're among the last people to wish you a Happy New Year!

Our 2024 has started pleasantly, and we hope the same is true for you. 

This year will see the tenth edition of NZ Web Fest, and while the actual event is ten months away, we've got plenty happening between now and then.

Wrap your hands round a warming cuppa (if you're north of the equator) or something cool if you're down our way, and take a few minutes to explore what's what.

Enjoy

Team #NZWF24

CONGRATS & GOOD LUCK!

Our final look back at 2023 is to celebrate those who found out they were winners after our last newsletter went on its way, 

Well done to all the shows placing in the Web Series World Cup and Audio Fiction World Cup, including the inaugural AFWC winner Starship Q Star (above). The slates are now wiped clean and the 2024 editions will soon be under way! 

Check out the rankings for both world cups on wswc.info

Queens Court Games, whose All Night Society done good in the Audio Fiction World Cup - being the runner-up and the highest-places actual play series - will pay the submission fees for five actual play podcasts into every Audio Fiction World Cup festival this year. If you'd like to be one of those five, check out the deets here.

Cusco Web Fest is one of the earliest festivals in this year's Web Series World Cup, and they have an impressively tight turnaround from close of submissions to the event itself. 

They're open for submissions until 5 February, and have a special code available. For a huge 40% discount, use the code NZCWF24 at filmfreeway.com/cuscowebfest

Good luck!

SPOT  THE  DIFFERENCE

So here's what's the same and what's different about #NZWF24

The same ...

Our submission fees are the same as last year. 

Submission categories ... Podcasts, Short Films and Series - but there are a few tweaks to criteria. Our submission info is here

Submission deadlines remain the same -  31 March, May, July and August. Submissions open, as usual, on 1 February and are via FilmFreeway

The festival runs in November ... 1-11 November if you want to save some dates. The live-and-in-person bits will run over the weekend Friday 8 to Sunday 10.

What's not the same ...

Podcasts - we've added an Actual Play video category, which will have its own awards, separate from the Actual Play audio awards.

Awards ... we've got more to offer this year. 

We've got a plan to be more active during the year, and to do more to draw attention to some of the great series and great people behind them. See below for a bit more detail on that. 

It's our 10th edition, and we'll be throwing a few bits and pieces into the mix to celebrate some of the great work we've had the pleasure of sharing along the way.

WE HEAR YOU

Although there's no doubt that winning an award is a bit of a buzz, it's also a pretty fleeting thing. If you're lucky you get a moment in the spotlight at an awards ceremony, and then ... what?

For a few years now, we've used our social channels to share #winnerwednesday posts, to give shoutouts to those who came away from our previous editions as champions. 

This year, we're going to expand those shoutouts a bit and invite as many of those winners as we can to do a video interview with us, which we'll post alongside those, um, posts.

We've kicked off with Ned Donovan, not one of our winners last year but absolutely deserving of a huge shoutout for being the brains, energy and enthusiasm behind the Audio Fiction World Cup. Earlier this month he and our Head of Podcasts, Jacq Ellem, caught up for a chat about what was great about the inaugural AFWC, what'll be even better this year, and a bit about his own success with Encounter Party. 

You can find the interview on our Facebook channel, our (massively underused) YouTube channel, and here on our site. 

LINK

ENJOY

Our regular shout-out for content you might enjoy - suggested not by an algorithm or AI, but by real, breathing humans.

The Turning Point (above) - a new generation of kaitiaki who value the wellbeing of their whenua, helping their communities protect and connect with Aotearoa’s natural environment.

Preventing the Preventable - the struggle for access to cervical screening in rural Aotearoa, a finalist last year and produced by Ashleigh Roworth, who's currently shortlisted for Someday Stories 2024 as producer of Frankie Berge's Going.

The 9 to 5ers - Regan Foa'i & Danny Aumua's tiktok take on a retail tale (try saying that quickly three times). Danny's also shortlisted for Someday Stories 2024 for Sean Dioneda Rivera's The Neon Labyrinth.

If you're feeling like sharing the love, a couple of NZ projects are currently fundraising. 

At a very early edition of NZ Web Fest, we were happy to present Josh & Mearle's Blade NZ, a trip the length of the country on rollerblades. Now, Linus Gilbert is doing the trip on a unicycle, making a doco series and looking for support.

Joe Murdie, winner of our inaugural Music Video award last year, is seeking support for scifi short Planet 13. If you want to lend a hand, be quick - the campaign closes in 48 hours.

*

We love to give shout-outs to new content in these newsletters and on our socials, but we don't have much time to trawl for it every month. 

If you're releasing something, be it something brand new or a new season, shamelessly self-promote by dropping us a line or adding admin@nzwebfest.co.nz to your media list if you're fancy and have one of those.

Tell us the what, when and where, and we'll help spread the word. We'll give preference to stuff that isn't geo-blocked or behind pay-walls, but all-comers are welcome :)

If we don't know, we can't share, so do tell us. Help us to help you!

LOOKING  FOR  LAURELS

If you're looking for some festival love and laurels, here are some deadlines that'll slide on by before our next newsletter hits your inbox.

Die Seriale Germany, January 31, Late Deadline 

MN Web Fest USA, January 31, Very Early Deadline 

Cusco Web Fest Peru, February 5, Late Deadline

For those in NZ, Loading Docs has opened its 2024 call for short doco ideas. Get in before 12 February here. 

HELP  US  GROW

If you enjoy our monthly newsletters, but want info more than once every few weeks, please give our social channels a go (links are just below).

We post a few times a week, mostly to facebook and instagram. Our X is more podcast-focused than our other channels, and LinkedIn and Threads we only use occasionally.

We also have a linktree, which you can find here or access via our instagram bio.