1. Aims

- To provide a place where learners of Japanese from various Central and Eastern European countries can enjoy themselves and create using the Japanese language.
- To help learners of Japanese improve their understanding of their own culture and Japanese language skills, and to promote Japanese language education.
- T o promote mutual understanding between Japan and Central and Eastern European countries and between Central and Eastern European countries through video clips.

2. Eligibility(e.g. to enter a competition）

- Residents of the following 13 countries where Japanese is not the mother tongue 
   Macedonia, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Hungary,
   Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Romania and Montenegro.
- Any individual or group

3. Competition entry

  1. Video works in Japanese language in line with the theme ‘My town’. 
  2. The work must be the applicant's original work and unpublished. 
  3. Each film must be no longer than 3 minutes (points will be deducted during the judging if the film exceeds 3 minutes).
  4. The work must be accompanied by a commentary in Japanese. Both audio and written commentary must be in Japanese. Videos without Japanese commentary will be deemed not to meet the entry qualifications.
  5. In principle, the file format should be MP4 and the file size less than 1 GB.
  6. Winning entries will be uploaded to the Foundation's website and YouTube channel and published on the Foundation 's Facebook account and the Facebook account of Japánnyelvi Kurzusok, which is managed by the Foundation
  7. In addition, please read the following notes carefully and check the ‘agree’ box on the application form after reading the pledge prepared by the Foundation, when applying.

Notes

  - The copyright of the submitted work belongs to the entrant, but the organiser of the contest, the Foundation, and organisations authorised by the Foundation may use the submitted work free of charge without the entrant's permission. The entrant shall not exercise any rights in the submitted work against the Foundation.
  - The entrant warrants to the organisers that the submitted work (including all sound, images, photographs, text, etc. in the work) does not infringe the intellectual property rights, including copyright, portrait rights and trademark rights, or any other rights of any third party. In the event of any objection from any person holding such rights, the applicant shall resolve the matter at his/her own responsibility and expense and shall not cause any inconvenience to the Organisers.
  - Entries that infringe on the rights of third parties, damage the reputation or credibility of others, violate laws and regulations, are not in line with the purpose of the competition or are otherwise deemed inappropriate by the Foundation will be excluded from the judging process. The prize may also be withdrawn if the work is judged to fall into any of the above categories even after the announcement of the winning entries.
  - The entrant agrees to these terms and conditions at the time of submitting the work.

4. How to apply

Entries are submitted using the application form linked below. The applicant must save the work on his/her or a group representative's Google Drive, make it available for downloading by the Foundation and provide a link in the application form to where the work can be saved. The Foundation will notify the entrant within two working days of receipt of the application form and the work.

*If you wish to use online storage other than Google Drive, please contact us in advance at the contact details given in ‘7. Inquiries’.

Application form
https://forms.office.com/r/RXQeKwR8u2

Period for receipt of entries ： Until Sunday 1 December 2024

5. Screening process

  Criteria
  - Are the attractions of ‘my town’ sufficiently conveyed through the video?
  - Is the Japanese language used effectively so that the intention and content of the video on the application form can be fully understood?
  - Is it a creative work?

Based on the above criteria, the jury will judge the entries and select one Grand Prize and one Prize for Excellence.

6. Prize

  Grand Prize: Assorted Japan Foundation original goods 
   　　      　(tumbler, mobile battery, eco-bag, notebook) 
  *If you apply as a group, the above-mentioned goods will be sent to the number of people in each group. However, the maximum number of entries is limited to five. 

  Excellence Prize: One copy each of the Japanese language textbooks ‘Marugoto’ from starter level to intermediate 2. 
  *For ‘Marugoto’ starter level to ‘Marugoto elementary 2’, both books ‘Rikai(cometences)’ and ‘Katsudo(activities)’ of each level will be sent. 

  Participation prize: Online Japanese language session by a Japanese language specialist or teaching assistant from our Foundation (only for those who wish).
  *Online study method consultations or Japanese conversation sessions with our Japanese language specialists or teaching assistants will be offered to contest participants who wish to participate. Application and participation are not compulsory. If you apply as a group, only group participation will be accommodated. Individual support for each person in the group is not possible.

Announcement of winners：Mid-January 2025

7. Contact

  Contact person: Nikolenyi Gergely (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00 in Japanese, Hungarian and English) 
  Email: Gergely_Nikolenyi@jpf.go.jp