MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS 
GOLDEN REEL AWARDS RULES

Revised and Approved by the Board of Directors and the Active Membership of Motion Picture Sound Editors Dec 2, 2015

AWARD CATEGORIES

FEATURE FILM

  1. Best Sound Editing - Dialogue & ADR, English Language Feature Film
  2. Best Sound Editing -  Sound Effects and Foley, English Language Feature Film
  3. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR, Foreign Language Feature Film
  4. Best Sound Editing -  Music, Live —Action or Animation, English Language or Foreign Language Feature Film
  5. Best Sound Editing -  Music, Live Action or Animation, English Language or Foreign Language Musical Feature Film
  6. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR, English Language or Foreign Language Animated Feature Film
  7. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR English Language or Foreign Language Documentary Feature Film

TELEVISION

  1. Best Sound Editing in Television - Dialogue and ADR, Short Form
  2. Best Sound Editing in Television - Dialogue and ADR, Long Form
  3. Best Sound Editing in Television - Sound Effects and Foley, Short Form
  4. Best Sound Editing in Television - Sound Effects and Foley, Long Form
  5. Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Live —Action or Animation Short Form
  6. Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Live —Action or Animation Long Form
  7. Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Musical Live —Action or Animation, Short Form
  8. Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Musical Live —Action or Animation, Long Form
  9. Best Sound Editing in Television - Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR, Animation
  10. Best Sound Editing in Television - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Documentary Short Form
  11. Best Sound Editing in Television - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Documentary Long Form

OTHER AWARDS

  1. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, English Language and Foreign Language Special Venue Feature Film
  2. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Direct to Video Live Action
  3. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Direct to Video Animation
  4. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Game Cinematics
  5. Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Computer Episodic Entertainment (Webisodes)
  6. Verna Fields Award for Student Film Makers
  7. Motion Picture Sound Editors Career Achievement Award
  8. Motion Picture Sound Editors Filmmaker’s Award 

II. GENERAL RULES

The following rules shall apply to all categories, except for the Verna Fields StudentAward:

  1. To be eligible for nomination in any category, entry paperwork must be submitted, fully completed, and be received by the specified time and date.
  2. All entries shall be eligible only in the form in which they are initially released in the United States.
  3. If there are less than three eligible films (features) or entries (all other categories) the films or entries shall be carried over to the following year. Three (3) will always be the minimum number of nominees in any category.
  4. If there are from three (3) to five (5) eligible films or entries there shall be three (3) nominations.
  5. If there are from six (6) to twelve (12) eligible films or entries there shall be five (5) nominations.
  6. If there are from thirteen (13) to sixteen (16) eligible films or entries there shall be six (6) nominations.
  7. If there are from seventeen (17) to twenty (20) eligible films or entries there shall be seven (7) nominations.
  8. If there are twenty —one (21) or more eligible films or entries there shall be eight (8) nominations.
  9. These limitations do not affect how tie and board discretion rules are applied.
  10. The maximum number of nominees in any category will always be eight (8). In the event that a tie would push the number of nominees past eight, the tied films or entries will not be nominated, unless excluding them would bring the number of nominees below three.
  11. Feature films must have been released commercially during the calendar year of consideration, and must have run for at least one week in a public theater, in the United States. Festivals and private screenings do not qualify nor prevent qualification. For Foreign language features, the year of consideration is the year of U.S. release.
  12. Television programs and submissions in other non —feature categories will be judged in the year of their initial airing or release in the United States.
  13. Commercials and trailers are never eligible in any category.
  14. Ballots shall always be counted by an independent arbitrator.
  15. The sound supervisor(s) shall be notified of their nomination by the chairpersons. The Supervisor shall submit an entry form listing the qualifying crew with the correct spelling of each name.
  16. Board discretion. The Board of Directors may only add feature films to the final list, not delete.
  17. The MPSE reserves the right to disqualify any nomination or award determined to be ineligible within one year of the Golden Reel Awards presentation. In the event that an award is revoked, the remaining eligible nominee with the highest number of votes will receive the award.

MPSE GOLDEN REEL STATUE TROPHIES:

MPSE Golden Reel Statue Trophies shall be presented as follows:

  • Dialogue/ADR Awards: Supervising Sound Editors, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors, Dialogue, and ADR Editors.
  • Sound Effects/Foley Awards: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists and Sound Editors.
  • Music Awards: Supervising Music Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.
  • Foreign Language Feature Awards: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors, Dialogue Editors, ADR Editors, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, and Sound Editors.
  • Animation Awards: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors, Dialogue Editors, ADR Editors, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, and Sound Editors, Supervising Music Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.
  • Special Venue Awards: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors, Supervising Music Editors, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, Sound Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.
  • Direct to Video: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors,
  • Supervising Music Editors, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, Artists Sound Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.
  • Game Cinematics and Computer Episodic Entertainment: Supervising Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Supervising Dialogue Editors, Supervising ADR Editors, Supervising Music Editors, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, Sound Editors, Dialogue Editors, ADR Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.
  • Verna Fields Student Award: Sound Editors, Sound Designers, Sound Effects Editors, Foley Editors, Foley Artists, Sound Editors, Dialogue Editors, ADR Editors, Music Editors, Scoring Editors, and Vocal Editors.

II. FEATURES

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURES

Best Sound Editing — Sound Effects and Foley, English language Feature Film 
Best Sound Editing — Dialogue & ADR, English language Feature Film

  1. If an editor worked in both categories, Dialogue/A.D.R., as well as Sound Effects/Foley, the Supervising Sound Editor can place that editor(s) into both award categories.
  2. Crew size for Effects/Foley category will be limited to one (1) editor per A/B reel plus two (2). For example, a five —reel feature would be limited to 7 awards. The nominated editors must be part of the primary sound editing crew, not just the temp mix or mix changes.
  3. Crew size for Dialogue/ADR category will be limited to the number of A/B reels plus two (2). For example, a five —reel feature would be limited to seven (7) awards. The nominated editors must be part of the primary sound editing crew, not just the  temp mix or mix changes.
  4. If the Supervising Sound Editor feels that more editors should qualify, the supervisor must specifically appeal to the Board at the time of nomination. The board will then make a determination on the crew size.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR
BEST SOUND EDITING - SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY, ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURE FILM

  • The nominating ballot for Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film, Sound Effects and Foley will be sent to the Active MPSE Members. A list of qualifying films for the year shall also be made available to the Active MPSE Members.
  • The Active MPSE members will determine, by ballot, no more than seven (7) nominations.
  • Board discretion. The Board has the ability to add zero (0) to one (1) film to the final list based on the Board’s evaluation.
  • In the event there are unique circumstances, the Board of Directors is given the power to add more than one feature. A special board meeting shall convene specifically for this purpose.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR
BEST SOUND EDITING – DIALOGUE & ADR, ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURE FILM

  1. The nominating ballot for Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film, Dialogue and ADR will be sent to the Active MPSE Members. A list of qualifying films for the year shall also be made available to the Active MPSE members.
  2. The Active MPSE members will determine, by ballot, no more than five (5) nominations.
  3. Board discretion. The Board has the ability to add zero (0) to three (3) films to the final list based on the Board’s evaluation of films entered for consideration.
  4. Supervisors and their crews will not be eliminated due to more than one feature nomination.
  5. Any film that does not submit a complete application for submission, including an explanation of the dialogue and ADR editors’ work, will not be considered for board discretionary adds.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR
BEST SOUND EDITING – MUSIC FEATURE FILM

Best Sound Editing - Music, Live-Action or Animation, English Language or Foreign Language Feature Film
Best Sound Editing - Music, Live-Action or Animation, English Language or Foreign Language Musical Feature Film

  1. The Active MPSE Members will determine, by ballot, no more than three (3) nominations.
  2. Music entry forms will be sent to music editors. The completed forms will be returned to the Music Selection Committee. The Committee will analyze the forms and view the films to make from zero (0) to five (5) additional nominations in each category.
  3. In the category of Musicals there must be at least three (3) musicals to form a separate category, otherwise they will be included in the live action music category.
  4. A musical feature is a feature film that contains a substantial amount of
    1. On —camera music, which may include songs, song and dances, or
    2. Music performed instrumentally or songs and singing which tell the story, i.e. traditional musical.
  5. Any film that does not submit a complete application for submission, including an explanation of the music editors’ work, will not be considered for board discretionary adds.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR
BEST SOUND EDITING – FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE FILM

  1. MPSE will confer a Golden Reel Award to foreign language feature films in one category, designated as Best Sound Editing —Foreign Language Feature Films.
  2. For foreign language films, sound editing is defined as the editing of sound effects, Foley, dialogue and A.D.R., and judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible film.
  3. For a film to be classified as a foreign language feature film, it must be a live action or documentary motion picture for which the major portion, at least sixty percent (60%) of the dialogue is not in American English.
  4. For those films for which multiple languages are used, the Foreign language Film Committee and the Board of Directors shall make determinations on a case by case basis of the location of the major portion to the sound editing and thereby the classification of the film as “foreign language” or “English language”, taking into account, but not limited to such factors as supervision, creative input, amount of editing hours, etc.
  5. The final foreign language film nominees are to be chosen in the following manner: Annually each member of the MPSE is sent a ballot, asking for nominations of foreign language films. The Active MPSE members will determine, by ballot, no more than five (5) nominations.
  6. The MPSE Foreign Language Film Committee will have screening panels, the function of which will be to view foreign language film and to make recommendations to the Board of Directors of sound editing worthy of consideration for nominations. The Board, evaluating these recommendations and at its discretion, can nominate, in addition to those films nominated by the membership balloting, zero (0) to three (3) films as finalists.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR

BEST SOUND EDITING –

SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE & ADR, ENGLISH LANGUAGE OR

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

  1. Definition of Animation: The Board will decide which films qualify as animated on a case —by —case basis. Among the factors that may be considered are the following:
    1. Whether the film is traditional animation.
    2. Whether the sound editing follows the process of sound editing in traditional animation, including the pre recording and editing of dialogue before picture is shot.
    3. In the cases of mixed media (live —action and animation), whether more than 50% of the frames in the film have animation.
    4. Whether the animation is intended to be perceived by the audiences as ‘realistic’ or not. 
  2. The nomination ballot for Best Sound Editing in an Animated Feature Film will be sent to the Active MPSE Members along with the list of all of the qualifying films for the year.
  3. For animated feature films, sound editing is defined, as the editing of the Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR. Judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible film.
  4. The Active MPSE members will determine, by ballot, no more than five (5) nominations.
  5. Board discretion. The Board has the ability to add zero (0) to three (3) films to the final list based on qualifications deemed appropriate by the Board.
  6. Supervisors and their crews will not be eliminated due to more than one feature nomination.

THE NOMINATING PROCESS FOR

BEST SOUND EDITING –

SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, MUSIC, DIALOGUE & ADR ENGLISH LANGUAGE

OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

  1. MPSE will confer a Golden Reel Award to documentary feature films in a single category, designated as Best Sound Editing, Documentary Feature Film.
  2. A Documentary Feature is defined as a theatrically released nonfiction motion picture with an informative, cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, biographical or other subject matter. A Documentary Feature must have a running time of more than 60 minutes. Game Show, Reality and Reality —Competition subject matter are not eligible.
  3. For documentary feature films sound editing is defined as the editing of sound effects, Foley, music, dialogue and A.D.R.The judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible film.
  4. The nominating ballot for Best Sound Editing in a Documentary Feature Film will be sent to the Active MPSE Members alongwith the list of qualifying films for the year.
  5. The Active MPSE Members will determine, by ballot, no more than seven (7) nominations.
  6. Board discretion. The Board has the ability to add zero (0) to one (1) film to the final list based on the Board’s evaluation.
  7. In the event there are unique circumstances, the Board of Directors is given the power to add more than one feature .A special board meeting shall convene specifically for this purpose.

BLUE RIBBON PANEL VOTING METHOD

FOR FEATURE FILMS

  1. There shall be at least two chairpersons for each panel.
  2. All panel chairpersons shall be members of the board of the M.P.S.E.
  3. The chairpersons are responsible for all of the balloting, and contacting of the supervisors of their nominations.
  4. There will be a minimum of fifteen panelists in these four categories: Sound Effects and Foley Editing in a Feature Film, Dialogue/ADR Editing in a Feature Film, Sound Editing in an Animated Film, and Sound Editing in a Foreign Language Feature Film. All other categories shall have a minimum of ten panelists.
  5. Conflict of Interest. If a panel member has worked on a nominated film he/she will be disqualified.
  6. Qualifying judges for the blue ribbon panel. Chairpersons shall first attempt to fill the Blue Ribbon Panel with ACTIVE M.P.S.E. members and retirees. Upon having any vacancies on their panel, the balance of the panel shall be filled with qualified sound editors, music editors, sound designers, Foley artists, field recordists, and sound mixers. If there are still vacancies, the Chair may approve, on a case-bY-case basis, other qualified professionals who work in post production.
  7. All panel members must see at least 80 percent of the nominated pictures. If a panelist misses any screening, the panel member cannot vote on the features missed, and his or her vote is at the discretion of the chairpersons.
  8. All panelists shall attend screenings supplied by the M.P.S.E., or attend Academy screening to make sure all nominated features are viewed in the same arena.
  9. It is strongly suggested screenings should be fresh, not months prior to voting.
  10. All paperwork submitted will be considered by the panel.
  11. Ballots shall use ranked (preferential) balloting, in which voters shall rank nominees in a hierarchy on the ordinal scale (e.g., if there are eight (8) nominees, each nominee shall be ranked 1 —8. With one (1) being the top choice). Ballots shall be tabulated by assigning a point value to each place in the hierarchy and obtaining a total.
  12. All the scores for each project will be averaged to determine the winners.
  13. All ballots shall have the voter’s name signed and printed on the back of the returning envelope or the vote will not be counted.
  14. Conflict of interest in Board Discretionary Adds: If a board member or officer has worked on a submitted film, he or she must identify that fact, and board adds in that category must be done by secret ballot.

III. TELEVISION

AWARD QUALIFICATION

  1. For television Sound Effects and Foley editing, the number of awards to be given will be one editor per act (or A/B reel) plus two, i.e.: for a seven act show there will be nine (9) awards.
  2. For television Dialogue and A.D.R. editing, the number of awards to be given will be one editor per act (or A/B reel) plus two, i.e.: for a seven act show there will be nine (9)awards.
  3. All programs running 75 minutes or less shall be considered in the “Short Form” categories, including Episodic and Specials.
  4. All programs running longer than 75 minutes shall be considered in the “Long Form” categories, including Made-for-Television Movies, Mini-Series, Episodic and Specials.
  5. Only one episode per series per category may be submitted per Supervising Sound Editor.
  6. Only one night of a Mini-Series may be submitted.
  7. Any entry in the Dialogue/ADR categories that does not submit a complete application for submission, including an explanation of the dialogue and ADR editors' work, will not be considered for nomination.
  8. Any entry in the Music categories that does not submit a complete application for submission, including an explanation of the music editors' work, will not be considered for nomination.

SCREENING TIME FOR EACH TELEVISION CATEGORY

  1. The submitting editor shall include screening times for each television program entered. These times (in minutes and seconds) shall be included on the entry form and will be used by the blue ribbon panels.
  2. All non feature categories are subject to the following limitations:
    1. Short Form programs (75 minutes or less) – two sections of 10 minutes each, for a total of 20 minutes.
    2. Long Form programs (over 75 minutes) – two sections of 15 minutes each, for a total of 30 minutes.

BALLOTING METHOD

  1. The Board of Directors shall set deadlines for receipt of entries. These deadlines shall be printed on all entry forms and shall be absolute.
  2. The Supervising Sound Editor of each show must supply TWO (2) separate broadcast version copies for each category entered by the submission deadline or the submission will not be considered for nomination. These copies must be on NTSC DVDs. The Supervising Sound Editor will provide the time or times to be viewed along with a description of each section to be viewed.

BLUE RIBBON PANEL VOTING PROCEDURES

  1. There will be no less than two (2) chairpersons per category.
  2. For nomination balloting there will be a minimum of five (5) panel members per category.
  3. For final balloting there will be a minimum of ten (10) panel members per category.
  4. Television entries that receive the top eight (8) votes of the Blue Ribbon Panel will automatically be placed in the final list.
  5. For nomination balloting, panel members will watch the indicated screening times. For final balloting, panel members will watch the entire episode, or show.
  6. The same structure will apply to the television Blue Ribbon panels as in the feature film category.

OTHER AWARDS

SPECIAL VENUE FILMS

  1. The M.P.S.E. will confer a Golden Reel Award to special venue films in a single category, designated as Best Sound Editing, Special Venue Film.
  2. For special venue films sound editing is defined as the editing of sound effects, Foley, music, dialogue and A.D.R. The judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible film.
  3. 3. For a film to be classified as a special venue film, its initial distribution must have been exclusively in a nonconventional theater. This category includes diverse formats, but is not limited to, the following examples: IMAX, Omni —Max, Showscan, and projected theme park rides.
  4. The Supervising Sound Editor must arrange for all screenings related to this category.
  5. The Blue Ribbon Panel procedures shall follow those in the television categories.

GAME CINEMATICS

  1. The MPSE will confer a Golden Reel Award for Game Cinematics in a single category, designated as Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, in Game Cinematics. Game Cinematics sound editing is definedVas the editing of Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR. Judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible entry.
  2. For a project to be classified as a Game Cinematic an entry’s initial distribution must have been by computer, online or game console delivery and associated directly with a video game released in the eligible calendar year. This category can include non-interactive and/or interactive scenes if the purpose of the scene is to serve the game narrative. Commercials are not included. The Board of Directors shall make determinations on a case-bycase basis of an entry’s qualification for consideration in this category.
  3. In all other respects the MPSE Golden Reel Television rules apply to this category.

COMPUTER EPISODIC ENTERTAINMENT (WEBISODES)

  1. The MPSE will confer a Golden Reel Award for Computer Episodic Entertainment in a single category, designated as Best Sound Editing – Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR, Computer Episodic Entertainment. Computer Episodic Entertainment sound editing is defined as the editing of Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue & ADR. Judging for the award shall consider the quality of all of these disciplines for each eligible entry.
  2. For a project to be classified as a Computer Episodic Entertainment (Webisodes) an entry’s initial distribution must have been by Internet delivery. Computer Episodic Entertainment (Webisodes) is defined as a scripted show of three or more episodes, longer than 2 minutes, and shorter than 30 minutes, which was made exclusively for the internet, either downloaded or streamed as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. Commercials are not included. The board of directors shall make determinations on a case —by —case basis of an entry’s qualification for consideration in this category.
  3. In all other respects the MPSE Golden Reel Television rules apply to this category.

VERNA FIELDS STUDENT AWARD

  1. Open to all original student projects, English and Foreign language.
  2. Must be completed during the eligible calendar year.
  3. On submission application, student must have a faculty member certify that students did all sound editorial work. No professional sound editing is permitted
  4. There shall be no less than three (3), nor more than five (5) nominees in this category. In the event there are unique circumstances the Board of Directors is given the power to add more nominees.
  5. The winning student sound editors of the Verna Fields Student Award shall share the Ethel Crutcher Scholarship. The MPSE Board of Directors shall determine the amount of the scholarship. In the event of a tie multiple scholarships shall be awarded.

MPSE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Board of Directors may, but shall not be required to, award the MPSE Career Achievement Award to qualified members of the sound community.

MPSE FILMMAKER’S AWARD

The Board of Directors may, but shall not be required to, award the MPSE Filmmaker Award to qualified members of the Filmmaking community.