General Info

RICE: Rewards Imagined by Community of Editors

RICE is a community feedback event made by editors, for editors.
The categories & the videos that apply to them are decided through voting during the event by the participants.
That means the only people who vote, review, and judge entries are the editors who submitted something to it.

You must be a member of the server to participate in RICE.
If you are not already in the server, you can click here to join.

The Basics

  • RICE is an annual event with the same dates every year. (See: Schedule)
  • To submit a video, you must be in the server by 30 November, before RICE starts.
  • Anyone can be a spectator, regardless of when they joined.
  • RICE uses blind submissions, meaning no one (including spectators) should know who created which video.
  • All participants (including spectators) are encouraged to review all videos and provide feedback or constructive criticism.
  • Award categories are decided by peers after seeing all the videos for that year.
  • Videos can use any source (live-action, animation, etc.)
  • Minimum video duration of 30 seconds.
  • Submit two videos as long as 5 minutes each or a single video up to 10 minutes.
  • Submitted videos must follow content restrictions.
Read this before submitting (tap to expand)

RICE involves a lot of reading.

  • This event has many rules and text-based news updates throughout the month.
  • Comments left on videos may be several paragraphs.
  • If you are leaving feedback, most videos have a creator comment asking for specific advice.
  • You are not committed to reading everything, but expect to be confused and/or left behind if you don't.

RICE is a feedback event first.
We want everyone to leave as much constructive criticism as feasible.

  • You may leave a public note in the submission form detailing what feedback you would like to receive.
  • You may upload additional materials, like side-by-side comparisons of no effects vs. effects or parodies vs originals, etc.

RICE is intended for BentoVid regulars.

  • Anyone can be a spectator, but people who submit videos must have joined by 30 November.
  • It is a mostly casual environment with people who are already familiar with one another.
  • Accessibility is a focus (CWs, VPR, captions, etc.).
    These are not required to submit but may be applied to your video.
    (Your video files will not be changed.)

The coordinator might submit a video.

  • No one is able to nominate the coordinator's video for any awards - it is completely removed from voting.
  • The coordinator's video is unblinded after category finalization.
  • The purpose of the coordinator entering a video is only to receive feedback from other participants.

When RICE ends, your videos are unblinded and displayed on the RICE Event History page.

  • Password-protected downloads are available through an indirect link.
  • This website is not indexed by search engines.

The finalist & awards show is pre-rendered, publicly viewable on YouTube, and uses the following settings:

  • 23.976 fps
    Submissions not at the framerate will be played at this framerate and may stutter.
  • 1920x1080p
    Larger submissions will be downscaled.
    Smaller submissions will be scaled up to fit as much as possible without cropping.
  • All videos have lower thirds added to them
    The graphics are 155px high and remain on the video through its entire run.
    Submissions with text will be shrunk so the graphic does not cover it.

These only apply to the finalists and awards shows. During the actual event, your videos remain in their natural state.

If you are uncomfortable with any of the above, consider spectating instead.
Spectators do not submit a video and cannot vote for the main awards, but they can view and comment on all videos, suggest categories, and select a video to win the spectators' choice award, called Okazu.
Spectator signup has the same window as video submission: January 1 - February 1.

2027 Umami

Comedy + Action

Ha-has and boom-booms.
Preferably at the same time.
:)

The Umami is the theme for that year's RICE.
It is changed every year and is announced at the end of the previous year's RICE Awards video.

Participation in the theme is optional, but it is the only (genre-related) category announced before the event starts.

New for 2027

(Click to reveal)

Spectator changes

  • Clarified spectators should be blind to entries too.
  • 1 (One) spectator minimum for the Okazu award (down from 10).
  • Voting for the Okazu award opens soon after the videos become available instead of waiting until the other video nomination starts.

Intent to participate & CW Request process changes

  • "Intent to Participate" form no longer exists
  • CW Request is its own separate form
  • CWs require examples in order to be fulfilled

Voting changes - point allocation
Previously, voting was done by selecting videos in a checklist.
Now, voters will be given a set amount of points. You may distribute the points however you like with up to 3 points for one option.
Point allocation is used for all phases of voting, including award categories.

Award category process changes

  • When submitting a new award category, you must select a group name your award is most similar to.
  • When voting for award categories, only one award per group can win.
  • "Award groups" are present in the vid infosheet and you can see which award names will be competing against each other in their respective groups.
  • You can edit your award category submissions at any time up to the deadline, including changing its award group.

Content restrictions modified
Content restrictions were modified and clarified again.
There are now better example image comparisons & explanations.

New video amount & duration rules
You may submit one video with a duration of 10 minutes or less.
You may submit two videos if all three of the following are true (requirements 2 & 3 can be satisfied by separate videos):

  1. The combined duration of both videos does not exceed 10 minutes and 0 seconds.
  2. At least one video includes subtitles (for dialogue and/or song lyrics - hard-coded or via separate SRT file).
  3. At least one video's primary source is live-action, stop motion, or still images.

New Event Description Requirements
When you /create an event, you must provide a description.
Your event description must contain:

  • A brief description of what your event is about (same as before).
  • What channel the VC will be in (NEW).
  • How you will handle CWs (NEW).
    Acceptable options:
    • No CWs provided.
    • CWs provided in voice and/or text with video title.
    • # second pause before video plays (at least 30 seconds is recommended - so participants have time to look up the CWs themselves).

It's also recommended (though not required) to state whether captions will be on or off.

Other Minor Changes

  • [WIP] & [vc] tags removed
  • Submission form has been restructured & (hopefully) simplified & improved. You are now able to:
    • Choose your own 15 - 30 second highlights for award shows
    • State your preference for your video's caption visibility in award shows
  • Vid infosheet has been improved. It now includes:
    • The award suggestions as they come in
    • Award groups
    • The suggested award categories for each video (as they come in)
    • Better CW information
    • A plain text ID - Video Title list for your own use
  • Most RICE website pages rewritten to be more concise
  • Number of Kollab comments added to stats in RICE history pages (2024 - 2026)
  • Permanent redirect URLs for most important links (vid infosheet, CW Request, etc.)
  • Discord usernames are used as unique identifiers instead of emails. Email input is voluntary and only used for form receipts.

The submission form opens on January 1, 2027.
All submissions must be received by 10:00am EST (15:00 UTC) on February 1, 2026.
Submit to RICE

If you have any questions, please DM @standardquip (Vars) on Discord.