GIF Contest 2021: Reaction Videos, round 2

Follow these instructions to submit your reaction videos to Round 2 of the 2021 GIF Contest. Please read the full document before you upload anything.

General info about this contest is available on @contest. Feel free to check out the Russian version of this document.

Submission Instructions

  1. Upload to a public channel. Upload your reaction videos to one of your public channels. Use the same Telegram account that is participating in the contest to upload all your videos. If you don't have a public channel, create one – it's easy.

  2. Upload as “video”, not “file”; without sound. Please see these detailed uploading instructions for each of the Telegram apps.

  3. Use separate messages, each with a caption. Make sure that each video is uploaded as a separate message and has a caption. The caption must be added when you upload the video. This will not work if you edit the video to add the caption later.

  4. Use the correct caption format. You must use the format “hashtag #reactiongif + space + one emoji”. Exactly like this:
    #reactiongif 😂

  5. Don't add anything else to the caption. Use only one emoji that best describes the emotion in your reaction video. Don't use anything else in the caption: just the tag #reactiongif followed by a space and exactly one emoji.

  6. Minimum 10, maximum 100 reaction videos. Remember that you need to upload at least 10 reaction videos to participate and we won't accepted submissions with more than 100.

Submission Success

If you did everything right, your video will appear to other Telegram users with a watermark with the link to the channel where you uploaded it (your account may not see the watermark immediately, see FAQ).

If your reaction video has the correct caption and satisfies the technical criteria, it will be accepted to the contest.

Note: All videos uploaded with the #reactiongif hashtag & one emoji will be saved for the contest. Such videos will not be removed from the contest even if you delete the original message. To remove them, use @ContestBot commands.

Technical Criteria

1. Format: MP4, no sound

2. Aspect ratio: 1:1 – 4:3 and anything in between (check examples)

  • GIFs must not include stripes that make a widescreen video fit in the required format (bad example).
  • Sides must not be squished to fit the aspect ratio (bad example).

3. Max. duration: 5 seconds

4. Image quality. Aim for top video quality (✅ good examples, ❌ bad examples).

5. Max. size: 300 KB. Aim for the smallest size necessary to maintain the level of quality described above (likely around 70-300KB).

6. On-screen text is not required. If you use on-screen text, you must use consistent fonts on all GIFs in your submission. Please keep your source files, because we may ask you to edit the text if your submission wins a prize.

7. Expressiveness and relevance to emoji. All GIFs must be relevant to their chosen emoji and express the emotion clearly. (If you're not sure whether the video shows 😑,😡,🙄 or 😳 – it's probably not a very good fragment).

Checking Your Videos with @ContestBot

To confirm that your videos have been uploaded correctly and were accepted to the contest, you MUST register for the contest with @ContestBot:

  • Open @ContestBot, send /start and choose GIF Animation Contest.
  • Fill out the info if you haven't already.
  • The bot will tell you how many videos you have uploaded and how many of them are participating in the contest.
  • It will also show full details for videos that were processed correctly (got the watermark) but could not be accepted to the contest.

Frequently Asked Questions

We will be updating this FAQ with answers to questions asked in the contest group.

Q: Uploading videos, step by step

WARNING! There are other ways of sending a video on Telegram, but if you want something that is guaranteed to work for this contest, do exactly this:

Prepare your videos for publication in an external video editor (it is not recommended to use the built-in Telegram media editor for this contest).

  • Aspect ratio: between 1:1 and 4:3
  • No audio track!
  • Suggested width: 380, 640 or 848
  • Suggested height: a multiple of 16

Other widths/heights may also work – but if you run into problems, try the suggested ones.

Android: Tap 📎 > Gallery > choose your video > send (don't tap the sound button, otherwise your video will be uploaded in lower quality – instead make sure you've disabled the soundtrack when preparing the video). Don't forget to add the caption.

iOS: Tap 📎 > Photo or Video > choose your video > tap on the sound button to mute and loop the video (even if your video has no sound! – otherwise the bot will not recognize your video). Don't forget to add the caption.

Telegram Desktop: Click 📎 > choose your video. Video must have no sound for this to work. Don't forget to add the caption. (If you are having problems uploading your videos with Telegram Desktop, try another app.)

Telegram for macOS: Click 📎 > Photo or Video > choose your video (use “Send in a quick way”). Video must have no sound for this to work. Don't forget to add the caption.

Q: My video became too large after uploading!

If your video became too large after uploading and the bot doesn't accept it, please reupload the video now.

If you tried again and it's still not working, try saving them with the standard H.264 preset: preset=medium, crf=23 — and re-upload again.

This should also help if your video gets stuck at 100% during uploading to public channels with the correct caption.

Q: Can I edit my videos in Telegram's built-in editor?

We recommend that you prepare your videos for publication in an external video editor. It is not recommended to use the built-in Telegram media editor for this contest.

Q: I have a problem with submitting my videos, what do I do?

Make sure you've read the entire document and this FAQ.

Describe the details of your issue in @contests, don't forget to include the tag #gifContestQuestion.

Q: How do I create a channel?

We recommend using your own public channel to upload your videos. Here's how you create one:

  • Tap the New Message button > New Channel.
  • Add a name and optional description.
  • Choose a public link for your channel.

Videos you upload to the contest will be watermarked with your channel's link. In the future, your videos may potentially be suggested to Telegram users – so it's better not to choose links like https://t.me/TestTesTestTest or https://t.me/asdfasdfasdf.

Note: Reaction videos posted in private channels will not be accepted to the contest.

Q: Can I use somebody else's channel?

All videos submitted for the contest will be watermarked with the link of the channel that was used to submit them. In the future, your videos may potentially be suggested to Telegram users – so you may want to keep them for your own channel.

Note also, that you must upload all your reaction videos using the same Telegram account that registered with @ContestBot.

Q: Can the channel have other content besides my reaction videos?

Sure, anything. (As long as it complies with the Telegram ToS.)

Q: What's a watermark?

When you upload a video with the correct caption (contest hashtag + emoji) to a public channel, the Telegram server will automatically add a link to the channel in the bottom left corner of the video.

Q: Video uploaded correctly, but no watermark

On some apps, you may not see the watermark from the app with which you uploaded the video. If this happens, try viewing the post from another device – or a different account – to confirm it's there.

Q: Video uploaded correctly, but bot says nothing uploaded

Check the updated uploading instructions and try again.

Q: How do I remove a video from the contest?

  • Open @ContestBot, send /start and choose GIF Animation Contest.
  • Enter your information if you haven't already.
  • Tap one of the buttons to show you uploaded videos (and wait for them to load).
  • Tap on the video you want to remove.
  • Choose the 'Remove from the contest' or 'Discard from the contest' button right below the video (above the post with info).