Cut Contra 2025

Updated (2025-05-13): Edited rule #6 to allow either portrait or landscape orientation for submissions. 

Updated (2025-05-12): New rules added (#4 and #5) allowing split frames/ overlays, and clarifying that the skills showcased must be your own skills.

Note (2025-05-09): Everything here is subject to change. Changes will be noted here at the top of the page. 

TLDR Overview:

• Cut Contra is an edited video contest, with an emphasis on cinematics over crushing combos
• Contest runs June 6-8, 2025
• Submissions should include at least two different manipulatives or skill toys, and are not limited to AO2 products or product categories
• Edits should be 30 to 90 seconds in length
• Scoring criteria: artistic merit (/25); technical skill (/20); clip quality (/15)
• Submissions will be via our new Invisible College platform
• Top prize is $1000 cash ($500 for second, and $300 for third)
• Daily draw prizes
• Participation prize for all entrants

Contest Details: 

Cut Contra is an open video contest for skill toy manipulation, and a celebration of the ways in which these items integrate into daily life. We're looking for a showcase of skills, sure, but for this contest we particularly want to focus on storytelling and cinematic expression, highlighting the lives and experiences within which these little items take on their significance. With a top prize of $1000, competition will be fierce, but the event is also about participation and community, with great draw prizes and other opportunities for everyone who gets involved.

Submissions will be in the form of edited videos, featuring at least two different manipulative items, and showcasing your technical skills in context. Disciplines will collide as the manipulatives we love become tools of expression. This is not a pursuit of perfection—it’s a celebration of your personal style and aesthetics, experimentation, and cross-pollination. Significantly, the judging of submissions will give heavier weight to the artistic merits of the clips than the technical skills within. Crisp filming and power moves can help, but winning entries will need something more. 

The contest will run June 6th to 8th, 2025, and will take place online. We're piloting our new Invisible College platform for this event, and details are provided below. While we encourage you to cross-post your entries on Instagram or your preferred social media (#cutcontra2025), limitations of tagging and hashtags have led us to pursue our own media platform for submissions. Unlike our past events like Sling Slam and Single Grip Open, this contest is wide open in terms of editing, and the requirement of at least two different skill toys should create space for interesting juxtapositions and changes of pace, alongside scenes from daily life. 

Participants are encouraged to showcase their skills across disciplines, and are not limited to Aroundsquare products. We're looking forward to seeing folks branching out, as well as entries from outside our core community. Submissions can include any of the following: kendama; yo-yo; balisong; finger boarding; cardistry; juggling props; contact juggling; diabolo; devil sticks; pen spinning; begleri; knuckle rollers; komboloi/ mkultras; chetki.. or whatever else moves you.

Use your voice. Cut freely. Interlace your daily life to showcase your personal style and the culture around you. Manipulate the frame, the format, the medium. Tell a story, and show us something we haven't seen before. 

Rules:

1. This is an open video/ edit contest, with just two restrictions:
   a) Submissions must be 30s to 90s in length
   b) Submission must feature at least two manipulative items or skill toys
2. Any relevant manipulatives or skill toys can be used, including but not limited to: kendama; yo-yo; balisong; finger boarding; cardistry; conventional juggling props (balls, contact juggling, diabolo, devil sticks etc.); pen spinning; begleri; knuckle rollers; komboloi/ mkultras; chetki etc.
3. Submissions can be non-continuous and should edited in a way that showcases your technical skill and artistic style.
4. Split frames, overlays, and picture in picture are allowed, as are slow motion, transitions, and other effects.
5. “Performance footage” must include at least you, meaning it is okay if there are others in the footage, but you should be the primary focus. Note that points for technical skill will be awarded only for the skills demonstrated by the person submitting the video. Additional clips (lifestyle, scenery, other context etc.) does not need to include you.
6. Submissions can be formatted in either landscape (horizontal, 16:9) or portrait (vertical, 9:16) orientation.
7. Submissions will be scored according to three criteria: artistic merit (25); technical skill (/20); and video quality (/15). More information on scoring is provided in the section below. 
8. Edits are to be submitted through our online platform Invisible College. The process is straightforward but you'll need to set up an account (details to follow). 
9. Please submit only one edit.

Scoring Criteria:

Submissions will be scored out of 60 points each, as follows: 

Artistic Merit (/25 points)

• overall style and performance elements
• storytelling, incorporating elements of daily life, evoking emotion, providing context or background that shows the manipulatives in the context of their use
• for the use of the chosen manipulative items
• composition, including individual shot composition and variety of different shots
• effective, intentional use of lighting, including highlights and shadows
• tasteful editing that contributes to the overall edit
• audio tracks, match with music etc.
• additional elements (humour, tension, highlighted moments, overlays, graphic animations etc.)

Technical Skill (/20 points)

• demonstrating competence with at least two manipuatives or skill toys
• good flows, tight/ clean execution
• sophistication, complexity, difficulty of tricks, including combo construction if applicable
• variety of trick elements
• innovativeness

Clip Quality (/15 points)

• basic film quality, clear clips, sufficient lighting etc.
• good framing, manipulatives clearly visible, clean/ appropriate background, sufficient contrast

Suggestions: 

• Use good lighting or natural outdoor light. In general, the more light you flood into your filming space, the better the quality of your clips. Once you have the basics to create a good clip, consider lighting angles and the interplay of light and shadow in your composition.
• Take time to set up shots for good framing, and be prepared for multiple takes.
• But.. since editing is welcome, you don't need a long, perfect combo in its entirity.. it's often preferable to keep up the pace with quicker clip transitions anyways.
• Use either a clean background, or an interesting one. Daily life content is encouraged, but nobody wants to see your dirty laundry on the floor--unless this is part of your artistic vision. If all else fails, a clean patch of pavement, grass, or a brick wall work well.
• Interlace the action portions of your edit with shots from the surroundings to tell a story or enhance a mood. How do these items work into your daily life, and how do they affect your daily experience?
• Pick music that fits the vibe you're going for, and punctuate transitions in time with your musical choice.
• Be judicious in your editing--use it to accentuate key moments or highlight specific things. While it's fun to explore crazy transition and effects, less is often more. 

Judging: 

How to Participate: 

Details to follows. Due to the limitations of tagging and hashtags, we are planning to host the contest on a new platform we are developing. Stay tuned for more. 

Prizes: 

Competitive Prizes: 
First Prize: $1000 cash, and your choice of (almost any) Aroundsquare product. 
Second Prize: $500 cash, and your choice of (almost any) Aroundsquare product. 
Third Prize: $300 cash, and your choice of (almost any) Aroundsquare product.

Draw Prizes: A draw prize will be announced on the morning of each day of the competition. The winner will be picked at random from the cumulative entries as of the end of each day, meaning that submissions on day one will have three chances to win. 

Additional Awards: Depending on entries, we may consider additional prize categories to honour deserving entries that did not podium. Examples could include things like technical mastery, editing style, creativity, and so on. 

Participation Prizes: All participants will receive a promo code, offering 25% off a future purchase with Aroundsquare. Participation and community involvement is a big part of this contest, so we'd like to encourage you all to follow alonng during the event and give some feedback and encouragement to one another as the posts show up throughout the weekend.