Sony have launched their PROduction Awards 2013, an initiative to offer aspiring filmmakers from across Europe the opportunity to showcase their talent and build industry recognition. 

Speaking at the launch of the competition, Olivier Bovis, Head of AV media for Sony Europe, noted the opportunity for undiscovered talent to get the recognition it deserves. “At Sony we realise that there is a wealth of production enthusiasts out there who don’t always get noticed. These awards allow us to celebrate undiscovered creative talent and help to give individuals the platform and tools they need to go on to achieve great things.”

Entrants are invited to create or share an existing film of up to five minutes and submit it to the Sony PROduction Awards site under one of the following categories: Commercial, Factual, Creative and Student.

Top prize for the winning filmmaker in each category is Sony’s Full-HD Super Slow Motion NEX-FS700EK camcorder and UWP-V1 wireless microphone kit, with an additional prize going to the entrant who’s film receives the highest number of public votes.

Qualifying films will be uploaded to the Sony Production Awards Arena, where the public will be able to view and vote for their favourite from 26 March 2013. Entrants will be able to submit their films up until 26 April 2013, at which point voting closes and the 20 most popular entries will be judged by Sony’s panel of industry experts to pick four winners, one in each category.

All winners will be announced in May this year.

Judges include filmmaker and movieScope contributors Philip Bloom and Robin Schmidt; freelance documentary filmmaker Molly Clarke; Spanish directors, Joan Riedweg and Ruben Latre; F-Stop founder Den Lennie; acclaimed French DoP Philippe Ros AFC; Short film expert Jason Sondhi; Niels Thomsen and German DP and filmmaker, Sebastian Wiegartner

Submit your entry here: http://productionawards.sony.eu/