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Atlanta AI Ad Fest 2026 · Guide

How to win the Atlanta AI Ad Fest.Sixty seconds. One idea. Before 25 October.

The rules, the 40% weight on the idea, the four brand briefs and a day-by-day plan to the 25 October 2026 deadline. Then write, storyboard and generate your ad in 熙熙.
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  • Entries close 25 October 2026
  • 30 to 60 seconds, any AI tool
  • $10 to register, $2,500 in prizes
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. 熙熙 does not organise the Atlanta AI Ad Fest and is not affiliated with SouArt Alliance or Bloomway AI. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official site

Available today in 熙熙: free screenwriting, and a storyboard generated from your screenplay with the 年度会员, ¥168 一年.

Also available now: video generation of each shot, powered by Seedance, on the same 年度会员, with 3,000 张额度 一年.

The rules on one card

What the first AIAF asks for.

The inaugural AIAF is an advertising contest, not a film festival. It asks for a 30 to 60 second ad or short film answering one of four brand briefs, and it scores the idea before the finish.
Entries close
25 October 2026, US Eastern time
Length
30 to 60 seconds, 200 MB maximum
Cost
$10 registration, no submission fee
Cash prizes
$2,500 guaranteed
Divisions
Youth, University and Open
AI tools
Any tool, models and platforms disclosed
Who can enter
Worldwide, teams of up to five credited members
Awards night
22 November 2026, Atlanta

Source: the AIAF home, awards, creators, jury and FAQ pages, read on 1 October 2026. The FAQ says the Official Rules and the Creative Brief are the source of truth, and one page still said registration was not yet open: check that the form works before you plan around it.

Key dates

Twenty-four days left.

Because this is AIAF's inaugural edition, there is no historical program or prior-year calendar to reference. The timeline and deadlines published below reflect the festival's official schedule, and <b>all in US Eastern time</b> unless otherwise noted.

  1. 15 Sep 2026

    Registration opens

    Open worldwide. The $10 fee includes 5,000 Bloomway Sparks, the credits of the festival's technology partner.

  2. Late Sep 2026

    Brand tracks launch

    Four official briefs: three Featured Brand Partners and one Presenting Brand Partner. Every entry starts from one of them. The brand names were not on the site when I read it.

  3. 25 Oct 2026

    Entries close

    The global call ends. Publish your work with the official hashtags first, then submit it.

  4. 10 Nov 2026

    Finalists announced

    The Official Selection and the finalists are named. Selected works are shown on the big screen at the awards night.

  5. 22 Nov 2026

    Awards night, Atlanta

    Finalist screening, ceremony and the live vote for Best of Festival, one vote per verified attendee. Venue to be announced.

How ads are scored

100 points, idea first.

AIAF released its scoring rubric in August, emphasizing that conceptual originality carries the same weight as execution quality and cultural impact combined. The awards page clarifies that introducing a new technique or model, by itself, does not guarantee recognition.

  • Idea

    40%

    The festival's test is “Can it make us think?” Write the idea as one sentence a stranger could repeat. If it needs the visuals to be understood, it is not yet an idea.

  • Craft

    30%

    “Is it exceptionally made?” The Best Visual Craft prize asks for a finish that looks intentional, not generic generation. One look, a clean edit, sound that fits, and no glitch left in.

  • Brand

    20%

    “Does it make the brand matter?” Your film must answer the brief you chose and its brand guidelines. The brand has to be needed by the idea, not stamped on at the end.

  • Impact

    10%

    “Does the world respond?” This is the ability to travel beyond the jury room, and your entry needs a public social URL. Real reactions help. Manipulated metrics do the opposite.

According to the awards page, entries risk lower scores if they feel like software demonstrations lacking a clear human concept or brand narrative, lean on overused AI visual tropes, suffer from inconsistent editing, or include unlicensed intellectual property. Submissions found to use manipulated or fabricated engagement metrics may be removed from consideration entirely.

Who decides

Advertising people and AI artists.

AIAF has announced five jurors who will evaluate work in its first edition. The festival also maintains a separate founding advisory board responsible for developing evaluation criteria and festival standards, though that board does not participate in judging individual entries.

  • Strategy and branding

    Oscar Betancur chairs Advertising and Branding and Social Strategy and Management at SCAD. Jordan Atchison is co-founder and CMO of an agency specialised in performance marketing and AI-enabled advertising. They will ask what the ad is for.

  • AI artists

    WildPusa and Xuesong Zhu are AIGC artists, the first called one of China's most influential AI visual creators. Xin Yu is an AIGC creative leader and Fortune 500 APAC Design Director. They will notice generic generation at once.

  • Jurors who also make films

    Some jurors are commissioned artists in the festival's own program, making films that answer “What Comes Next?” The home page shows works by WildPusa and Xuesong Zhu. Watch them: they show the house taste.

  • The room in Atlanta

    Best of Festival, worth $1,000, goes to a live audience vote at the awards night, with finalists from all three divisions in the running. Build an ending that works in a theatre.

The categories

Six ways to be remembered.

The official theme is “What Comes Next?” and every award below can go to the same film or to six different ones. Pick the one you aim at, then write toward it.

  • 01

    Best AI Commercial

    The strongest overall commercial: idea, craft and brand working as one film.

    The all-rounder. It rewards a clear brief answer and a clean finish more than a daring stunt. Do not chase it without a strong idea.

  • 02

    Best Creative Idea

    The clearest, bravest idea, memorable even before production polish.

    Write it on one line before any prompt. A rough film with a great idea can win here, and a polished film with a weak idea cannot.

  • 03

    Best AI Cinematography

    A distinctive camera language, light and motion, where AI expands cinematic control.

    Choose one move, one light, one lens feel and hold it. A single bold camera idea beats a catalogue of effects in sixty seconds.

  • 04

    Best Storytelling

    Narrative economy and emotional truth within 30 to 60 seconds.

    One character, one want, one turn. Spend your seconds on a face and a reaction, not on setting. Emotion is cheap to stage and rare in ads.

  • 05

    Best Visual Craft

    World-building, design systems and a finish that looks intentional rather than generic.

    Fix palette, textures and costume in references first, then generate. Consistency is the craft when every shot comes from a model.

  • 06

    Best Product Advertising

    A product or offer made desirable without sacrificing idea or taste.

    Show the product solving the idea's problem, close and well lit. Models garble logos and text, so add the pack shot and the line in the edit.

From page to screen

Voidborn: a sixty second cut in six shots.

Atlanta wants an idea you can say in one line, then a finish that backs it. This is the opening of Voidborn, episode 0, an anime short made by the 熙熙 team: the screenplay page, then each shot as a storyboard frame and as the final image. Every shot earns its seconds, which is the discipline a 60 second ad demands.

Logline. Every seven years, the Rift opens and swallows the world’s dreams. A swordsman sworn to a blind seer escorts her through its levels, toward a promise they made to a girl left behind.

Screenplay · episode 0 · English subtitles

EXT. RUINS OF THE FIRST LEVEL - NIGHT

Broken towers under a violet sky. SIM, a swordsman in a black cloak, walks beside LADY MARIA, blindfolded, all in white.

SIM

Tell me, Maria... do you think Leia believes we are still alive?

MARIA

We made a promise... the two of us.

A line of white automatons rises from the ruins.

AUTOMATON

The Rift will wait for no one.

SIM

What are machines doing at this level?

One automaton steps forward. Its face is blank.

AUTOMATON

We must return to the surface.

Its eyes ignite red.

SIM

I am Sim, guardian of Lady Maria... and I will proceed with your execution.

Steel meets steel. Lightning runs down the blade.

CUT TO:

  1. A swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded woman in white walk through ruins at night
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    01

    Wide · the pair

    Wide shot, a bald swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded red-haired woman in white walk through night ruins

  2. Medium two-shot of a bald swordsman and a blindfolded red-haired woman
    Storyboard frame of the two-shot, in grey
    02

    Two-shot · the promise

    Medium two-shot, the swordsman and the blindfolded seer side by side, violet night sky, broken towers

  3. Three white humanoid automatons stand in night ruins
    Storyboard frame of the automatons shot, in grey
    03

    Wide · the machines

    Wide low angle, three white humanoid automatons standing in the ruins, cold blue moonlight

  4. Close-up of a white automaton with a smooth blank face
    Storyboard frame of the blank face close-up, in grey
    04

    Close-up · the blank face

    Close-up on an automaton's smooth faceless head, black eye slots, cables at the neck, ruins behind

  5. A white automaton's eyes glow red
    Storyboard frame of the red eyes close-up, in grey
    05

    Close-up · the red eyes

    Same framing, the automaton's eyes ignite red, the swordsman's shoulder out of focus in the foreground

  6. A swordsman strikes with a katana wreathed in lightning and sparks
    Storyboard frame of the clash shot, in grey
    06

    Action · the clash

    Dynamic low angle, the swordsman strikes with his katana, lightning running along the blade, sparks, cape flying

Voidborn, episode 0, 13 minutes. Awards so far: 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place 熙熙 at the Mondial Chroma Awards, and an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. An ad cut would keep two close-ups, the red eyes and the clash, about 45 seconds in all. The player opens on this scene.

The script

A 60 second ad in five movements.

You have 60 seconds at most, so every second is a decision. Aim for 50 seconds: one screenplay page and 10 to 14 shots of 3 to 5 seconds.

  1. 0:00 to 0:05

    The hook

    A face, an object or a question. Viewers on a feed decide before the first cut.

  2. 0:05 to 0:15

    The problem

    What the person wants and what is in the way, in three shots.

  3. 0:15 to 0:35

    The turn

    Where the brief's brand enters the story, and why it changes things.

  4. 0:35 to 0:45

    The payoff

    The image the ad exists for. Give it two full seconds of silence or one clean sound.

  5. 0:45 to 0:50

    The line

    Brand and one short line, set in the edit and not generated.

Ads grow in the edit, so cut the opening before you cut the ending. Add the logo and any text as a layer, since video models misspell both.

Day by day

From today to the 25 October deadline.

You have 24 days. That is enough to make a 50 second ad if the idea is settled in the first week. The site mentions no grace period, so plan to finish on the 24th.
  1. 01

    1 to 3 October

    Register and read the brief

    Register, pick one of the four official tracks once its brief is live, and read the Official Rules and the brand guidelines. The rules win over this page.

  2. 02

    4 to 7 October

    Twenty ideas, one survivor

    Write twenty one-line ideas for the brief. Keep the one a stranger repeats back to you after a single hearing.

  3. 03

    8 to 11 October

    A one page screenplay

    Write it in 熙熙, free, in the standard screenplay layout. One page is about one minute. Mark the brand beat and the final line.

  4. 04

    12 to 15 October

    Storyboard and references

    Generate the shot breakdown, adjust framing and duration shot by shot, and approve one reference for each character, set and product. Ten to fourteen shots are enough.

  5. 05

    16 to 21 October

    Generate and cut

    Scene by scene from the storyboard, then cut to 50 seconds. Note every model and platform used: the entry form asks for a tool disclosure.

  6. 06

    22 to 24 October

    Publish and prepare the materials

    Post the ad with the official hashtags on a public account. Prepare 3:4 and 16:9 posters, a synopsis and the team details. The file must stay under 200 MB.

  7. 07

    24 and 25 October

    Submit before the close

    The deadline is 25 October in US Eastern time. Submit on the 24th and keep the 25th for a broken link.

Ways to lose points

Eight ways to waste a good ad.

Some come from the awards page, some from the FAQ. Read the Official Rules before you shoot.

  • Ignoring the brief

    Every entry begins with one of four official brand briefs. A lovely ad for no brief scores low on Brand and cannot win the Brand Choice Award.

  • Tool-demo energy

    The awards page names it as a reason for a lower score: a showcase of what the model can do, with no human idea or brand purpose behind it.

  • The wrong length or size

    Ads run 30 to 60 seconds, and the file may not exceed 200 MB. Under 30 or over 60 is outside the rules.

  • Unlicensed material

    Unlicensed IP lowers the score. Music, voices, brands and characters need clear rights. The FAQ allows any tool if the idea is yours and the rights are clear.

  • Nothing published

    You must publish the finished work with the official hashtags and give a public social URL. A private account leaves the jury with nothing to check.

  • Buying reach

    Impact is scored, but manipulated or fraudulent social metrics may lead to disqualification. Let real viewers react.

  • Surprise on rights

    Per the FAQ, creators keep attribution but the copyright is owned by AIAF and the brand featured in the work, as set out in the Official Rules. Do not enter an idea you want to keep.

  • No tool disclosure

    The FAQ asks you to disclose the models and platforms you used, and the form has a tool disclosure field. Keep a log from the first generation.

Why 熙熙

The grid starts with the idea. So does 熙熙.

熙熙 supports the full lifecycle of commercial and film production—guiding projects from initial screenplay through storyboard design all the way to final footage, unified in a single workspace. Because AIAF does not mandate any particular toolchain and Bloomway AI remains entirely optional, creators retain the freedom to develop their ad using whatever platforms best suit their vision.

  • The idea gets 40 points, so write it first

    The screenplay is free and in industry format. A one page ad script forces the single sentence the jury is looking for, before a credit is spent.

  • Ten shots that match

    Characters, locations, products and references carry from shot to shot. That is the difference between an ad and a loop of unrelated clips.

  • A tool log made as you go

    Every shot links to its scene, its frame and its prompt, so your tool disclosure is already written. Check the Official Rules for the eligible tools before you generate.

  • Start for free today

    On the 免费档, writing carries no price and no expiry. The 年度会员 is ¥168 一年 and covers both the storyboard and Seedance video generation.

Real productions

International festival-recognized films have been written and produced with 熙熙.

熙熙 has already earned its place as a trusted creative workspace among real AI film productions spanning cinematic shorts, animated series pilots, and narrative experiments that have been selected by juries, nominated for honors, and awarded recognition at international film festivals around the world.

  • Video thumbnail for VOIDBORN

    VOIDBORN

    AI animated / cinematic short

    Festival recognition

    • 1st Place Silver

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • 2nd Place 熙熙

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • Award Winner

      Seoul International AI Film Festival

  • Video thumbnail for Les Fils du Vinnana

    Les Fils du Vinnana

    AI short film

    Festival recognition

    • Honorable Mention

      Top Quark Film Festival

    • People's Choice Nominee

      Illuminate Oneness of Humanity

    • Nominee

      ALTFF Supershort

  • Video thumbnail for Lost Garden

    Lost Garden

    AI animated series pilot

    Festival recognition

    • Finalist

      AI London Festival

See what creators are building

The pipeline

Write. Board. Produce.

  1. 熙熙 screenplay editor: acts, sequences and beats above the formatted script of The Yellow Umbrella

    01The screenplay, enriched

    An industry-standard screenplay editor, and more: a visual outline and beat editor, your writing inspirations (notes, photos, audio) kept next to the page, and an AI researcher to support your writing, not replace it.

  2. 熙熙 storyboard: shot S3 of The Yellow Umbrella with characters, shot settings and the script beside it

    02The storyboard, made easy

    Shot breakdown generated from your screenplay, manual control over every shot (frame, angle, movement, duration), and generative AI previsualization in one click.

  3. 熙熙 production canvas: shots S3 and S4 as connected nodes carrying their storyboard panels and prompts

    03AI production, with finesse

    Footage generation pipelines connected to your screenplay and storyboard. Optimized out of the box, fully editable workflow.

More AI film festivals

Guides for other festivals

Go further

Guides for ads and festival films

FAQ

The Atlanta AI Ad Fest, your questions

How do you win the Atlanta AI Ad Fest? The judging
rubric assigns weighted scores across four dimensions: Idea carries 40%, Craft 30%, Brand 20%, and Impact 10%—meaning seventy points hinge on idea and craft together. Nail one lucid concept, answer the brand brief squarely, and execute it with a unified, consistent look. Best of Festival is then decided by a live audience vote held in Atlanta on awards night. Who
can enter, and what does it cost? The competitio
n is open to creators worldwide, working solo or in teams of up to five credited members, competing in one of three divisions: Youth (students in grades 6 to 12, with parent or guardian consent required for anyone under 18), University, or Open. Registration costs $10 per entry, and there is no further submission fee beyond t
hat. Which AI tools are allowed? Acc
ording to the FAQ, any tool is permitted so long as the core idea originates with you and all rights are cleared; you must also disclose every model and platform used in production. Bloomway AI serves as the festival's official technology partner, though using it remains entirely
optional. How long must the ad
be? Finished spots must run between 30 and 60 seconds and be delivered as a file no larger than 200 MB. Alongside the video, you also submit both 3:4 and 16:9 posters, a written synopsis, complete tool disclosure, team member details, a public s
ocial URL, and the official
hashtags. What are the prizes? AIAF guarantees $2,500 in cash awards: a $500 Grand Prix for each of the three divisions plus $1,000 for Best of Festival. Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are also awarded within each division, and winners may receive bonus Bloomway Sparks—up to 100,000 credits for Best of Fes
tival. Who owns the rights to my ad? Pe
r the FAQ, creators retain attribution and credit rights, while copyright ownership of the submitted work is held jointly by AIAF and the brand featured in the advertisement. The Official Rules spell out the legal details in full, so be sure to read them carefull
y before you submit. When is
the deadline? The entry window closes on 25 October 2026. Finalists will be announced on 10 November, and the awards ceremony takes place on 22 November 2026 in Atlanta. All dates and times follow US Eas
tern. Who is on the jury?
Five jurors have been named so far: Oscar Betancur from SCAD, Jordan Atchison who is co-founder and CMO of an advertising agency, and three celebrated AIGC artists—WildPusa, Xuesong Zhu, and Xin Yu. The festival site notes that additional jurors may be announced, so check the jury page for updates.

Twenty-four days. One idea.

Write your one page script for free today, storyboard every beat, then generate the footage—熙熙 connects every stage so nothing gets lost between the idea and the frame.
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