Nominee FAQ

My show/movie has been nominated for a Hulu Award. What the heck is a Hulu Award?
The Hulu Awards are given annually to the best content hosted at Hulu.com, in a variety of categories. They recognize movies, television programs, clips, short-format programs, and film shorts for being the best in their field.

Who decides what content is deserving of a Hulu Award?
The Hulu Awards are given out by a panel of select people, who have been chosen for their interest in the type of content that Hulu hosts. The panel consists of 25 members, each of whom spend a lot of time reviewing the eligible content and giving their informed opinion. Panelists are from such diverse organizations as Splicetoday.com, The NY Post, The Gawker Media Network, True Blood, Zap2it.com, and MSNTV. The public at large is also given the opportunity to vote for their favorites; the total public reader vote is equal to one panelist. In addition, the highest audience vote-getter will be recognized alongside the award winner.

What is the voting process like?
For each category, there are 3 stages. In the first, a list of eligible shows is presented to the panel. Panelists propose nominees to one another. If a show is recognized at this stage by two or more panelists, it moves on to stage 2.

In the second stage, the panel is presented with a list of proposed nominees. They cast several votes apiece for the shows that they find to be the most deserving. The shows that receive the most votes become Official Nominees, and move on to stage 3.

In the third and final stage, panelists are presented with the short list of Official Nominees. They cast one vote apiece. The show or movie that gets the most votes in this critical stage is the winner.

For some categories, the audience vote will be officially recognized in addition to the winner of the award.

Why should I care about whether my show wins?
The Hulu Awards represent two things that every studio and network is shooting for-- prestige, and eyeballs.

Performing well in the Hulu Awards means that a select group of journalists, bloggers, critics, and the voting public have achieved a consensus on the quality of your programming relative to other programming on Hulu. As online video viewing becomes a larger piece of the audience pie, it is important to achieve recognition that is specific to that medium. Winning (or being nominated) for a Hulu Award means that you have staked a claim to success in this medium, where Hulu is poised to become the dominant player.

Winning a Hulu Award also sends a signal to the average Hulu viewer, who will be alerted that your program is one of the few that is worth their time.

What happens to the results?
The results will be released during an online awards ceremony, which will be held soon. After they are announced, they will be officially presented to Hulu. They will also be disseminated to a large number of online and print media outlets.

Okay, that all sounds cool. So what should I do?
Nominated shows and movies have two opportunities to be involved in this process. They can lobby for votes, and they can participate in the online awards ceremony.

How do I lobby for votes?
In all likelihood, by the time you have heard about your show being nominated, the panel members will have cast their votes for the winner. So, we recommend that you focus on the audience vote. Simply post a message at your show's website and/or major fan sites encouraging fans of the show to visit The Hulu Review and vote. This is free, easy, and could reap huge benefits.

How can I participate in the online awards ceremony?
Your participation in the online awards ceremony is very important to us. Only studio involvement can add that veneer of glamour to our process. You can accept a nomination with either a written statement (100-300 words in length) or a short video (1-4 minutes in length). Additionally, you can accept an award with either a written statement (100-300 words in length) or a short video (1-4 minutes in length). We will also accept a photograph of someone involved with the show proudly holding an imaginary award (with thanks to Morgan Spurlock for coming up with this idea!).

We would like this content to be as exciting as possible. A video clip is better than a written statement, and a written statement is better than nothing at all. The more visible the person who originates the message, the better. You have full license to be creative in engaging our audience. We know you can come up with good content; if you couldn't, you wouldn't be nominated for an award in the first place.

What is the deadline to submit an acceptance letter or video?
The deadline is April 5, 2009.

Where can I direct my questions, comments, and concerns?
Email them to Matt at uictoday@hotmail.com with "Hulu Awards Nominee" in the subject line.

When will the Awards Ceremony take place?
Soon! We're shooting for April.