Music Video Festivals and Award Show Tier List

Hello everyone out there in Music Video Land.

The UKMVAs announced their call for entries last week, so it felt like a good time to make a tier list of music video festivals and award shows.

And spoiler alert: they’ve all got some issues. So if you’ve come here looking for the S-tiers, you’re not going to find them because they do not exist.

I will also say that this is not a complete list of all of the festivals and awards that showcase music videos. And I’m sure some of the ones I left off are a good time. Or have a fancy trophy. Or an open bar. But you gotta stop somewhere, so I’m keeping this list to 10.

In fairness, many of the events on the list offer the rare opportunity to watch music videos on a big screen, with an audience, sometimes even with popcorn. Which should be celebrated. And while some do have moments of solid curation, most feel more like cash grabs that benefit the organizers more than the nominees.

So which ones are worth your time, and even more importantly, your entry fees? Which ones are designed to highlight true creative innovation, and which ones are designed to lure Dave Meyers to show up to the W Hotel in a suit?

Let’s go through them all and find out.

UK Music Video Awards

The UKMVAs likely have the most industry credibility, which is pretty sad because, as you may guess, it’s extremely UK focused. And while there is a music video industry in the UK that deserves its own award show, I don’t think anyone considers it the center of the music video world.

And yet, this show has somehow become the default “real” music video award in the absence of anything significant in the US. It’s not because the UKMVAs are particularly cool or progressive. It’s more that they’ve been around since 2008, have good production value, and generally feel like they’re programmed and judged by people who actually watch and make music videos. Even if they are mostly UK ones.

Many of the categories and nominations are reserved for UK-based artists, directors, and crew. Which is to be expected. But the result is a kind of geographic bubble, where most of the work emerging from the industry has to sneak into an “international” slot.

And while the Video of the Year category has often looked outside the UK bubble and made some smart, globally relevant picks. Even that comes with a huge asterisk, as only 1 of the 17 winning videos was directed by a woman.

There’s also the entry fees which can add up fast. Especially when you are submitting across multiple categories, of which there are far too many.

It also feels like people use UKMVA acclaim as a way to break into commercials more so than they use it as a way to further their music video career. Winning a best director award almost feels like you’ve finally punched your ticket out of the industry.

But despite all of this, the UKMVAs are still one of the few shows that people in the industry take seriously. Production companies send out press releases when a video gets nominated. Directors put it in their bios. They make sure the award can be seen in the background of their zoom calls.

It has some clout. Not because it’s perfect, but because it exists at the weird intersection of curation, longevity, and lack of competition.

That’s why I’m putting it in B-Tier. It’s not an S-tier celebration of the form. It’s not a grassroots community event. It’s not even particularly global. But it does reflect a version of the industry that a lot of people work within, and that counts for something.

MTV VMAs

Everyone in the music video industry still craves a moonman. Even YouTube era music video heads know the significance. We just wish MTV seemed a bit more interested in awarding them to folks from the industry.

If MTV had their way, they would just give all the awards to musicians, even in the technical categories. This is highlighted by the last 5 winners for “Best Direction” going to artists self-directing their own video.

But the history and relevance can’t be denied. This is a major award show originally built to celebrate music videos, and it continues to be that. The fact that there is a show with this level of pop culture impact, that still has technical categories for music videos, is a win. Even if they don’t televise them.

It’s not that the VMAs are good. They’re not. They are a bloated, corporatized influencer funnel built to maximize social impressions and to make sure Taylor Swift shows up every year.

But MTV helped create the modern music video, and that style and visual language is just as present today as it was then. Not just as a format, but as an industry. When the first VMAs aired in 1984, it wasn’t an afterthought or an add-on to some film fest. It was the centerpiece of a cultural institution that lived and breathed music videos. This wasn’t a cash bar gala in the back of a W Hotel. It was broadcast television pop culture event about music videos.

Of course, that golden era is long gone. MTV barely plays videos now. The awards show is more TikTok billboard than industry showcase. But the legacy still lingers. The VMAs are the last music video awards show with real cultural memory.

Winning a VMA doesn’t just mean joining the ranks of David Fincher, Spike Jonze, and Mark Romanek. It also means joining the ranks of literal Beyonce and Madonna.

So, if we’re talking tiers, we have to respect this history. If this was 20 years ago, we might put this in S. But despite the decay, a VMA still has juice, and will likely be the best we’re ever gonna get. So we can’t in good faith put this lower than A-Tier.

Hollywood Music Video Awards

What is going on with this? I have not been able to figure out who is behind this show or why people have lended their credibility to it.

This was a first year event with no public information on who is behind it or who programmed the categories, just some bizarre LLC called Iota Entertainment. But somehow they got Dave Meyers to give a speech.

I can’t imagine Dave Meyers is so starved for praise that he pulls up to any event that wants to give him a plexiglass trophy. Why was he there?

Why did a list of legitimately credible and busy commissioners agree to jury through 40+ categories, including “Best Marketability,” “Best Action & Stunts,” and “Assistant Director of the Year.”

I love and support ADs. I fight for them on every budget I submit. But how can anyone watch a music video and determine if the AD on it was good or bad? There is no way to measure that by watching the final video.

It’s kind of a tired joke at this point to claim something feels AI-generated when it isn’t. But this shit feels very AI-generated! Even the tagline - “honoring the creators behind the curtain” - what does that mean in this context? There isn’t a curtain in music videos, this isn’t a play. And even there was, a lot of these categories honor stuff going on in front of the metaphorical curtain.

I just can’t figure out what led so many talented and cool people to drop $100 per ticket to watch a TikToker host make this face all night.

Our comments are open for anyone who can explain why people showed up to this thing. But despite some legit industry attendee at this year’s show, we can’t list this higher than D-Tier.

Grammy Awards

The Grammys could be S-Tier if they wanted to be. It’s a famous person’s award. It’s a rich person’s award. You get to call yourself “Grammy nominated” or “Grammy winning” for the rest of your life. If I won one it would become my entire personality.

But the issue has always been the Grammys’ treatment of music videos as a second-tier category. “Best Music Video” is shoved to the side with all the other non-televised awards, typically announced on Twitter or during a livestream while everyone’s still setting up red carpet lights. It’s filler content before the show actually begins.

And even if you accept that reality, the curation is wildly inconsistent. One year they get it right and nominate a truly inventive or ambitious video, the next they’re handing the award to the most famous person in the room to add to their body count. There’s no clear standard. Are they rewarding artistry? Cultural impact? Budget? Vibes? Who knows. You’d get better results plugging the YouTube Trending chart into the Yes/No picker.

This isn’t new, either. The Grammys didn’t even bother creating a dedicated music video category until 1984, the same year MTV launched the VMAs. And ever since then, they’ve treated the category like a formality. Something they know they should include, but never actually care about. As if to say: “Congrats on your little movie, now back to the music.” This is further highlighted by the fact that they’ve had a “long form” or “music film” category given equal billing the whole time.

But even though it was clearly developed as an answer to the VMAs, the eligibility window is also different from the VMAs, causing the two highest profile video awards to draw from two different pools of videos.

So yeah, it’s flawed. But it’s not a joke. It’s just a missed opportunity. The Grammys could easily be the premier music video award in the world, it has the stature, the brand, the reach. It’s fully industry backed. But instead it treats videos like a side hustle. And because of that, we’re left with a category that’s important despite itself.

So I’m putting it in B-Tier, because it could be great. But it clearly doesn’t want to be.

SXSW

SXSW kinda rocks. It’s the most high profile film festival that programs music videos. And because it’s both a film festival and a music festival, you sometimes get that rare crossover moment where the artist actually shows up to the screening. Maybe they answer one question during the massive 30-person Q&A, maybe they just sit in the back and ghost out during the credits. Either way, vibes.

It also has some pretty trustworthy programming. SXSW in general is well curated, and that extends to videos. The selections tend to lean cinematic, and you get to see music videos assembled from a filmmaker's perspective, rather than something overly influenced by the industry or label politics. That outside point of view is valuable. It makes the block feel like it has an identity.

That said, there are always a few videos that feel a little too film-festival-brained. Extremely arthouse, hyper-precious, a bit outsider-for-outsider’s-sake. Sometimes it feels like they’re included not because they’re good music videos, but because they feel like what a film festival thinks music videos are supposed to be.

But even with all that good. The legitimacy, the prestige, the giant badge around your neck that says “Filmmaker” and gets you into the beef jerky themed lounges. The music video section still feels like part of the festival JV team, even when compared to the other short form categories. They’re secondary to narrative shorts, docs, even midnighters. They feel in the same category as the Texas high school shorts.

And you feel that in the energy. It’s not an anchor category. It’s an extra.

But the festival is extremely fun, way more fun than Sundance, and those laurels hold weight. Especially if you have film and TV aspirations. And it’s a great chance to meet a community build with folks outside of your area. So we’re put it in A-Tier.

Berlin Music Video Awards

If the current trajectory continues, the Berlin Music Video Awards may eventually end up passing the UKMVAs.

Not in terms of prestige, at least not yet, but in terms of relevance, international reach, and how well it reflects what’s actually happening in music videos. It still feels like a festival made for music videos, and it doesn’t carry all the same baggage or performative industry politics that drag some of the others down.

The programming is uneven, sure. Some blocks feel a little cobbled together or too random. But they consistently manage to find genuinely inventive work from outside the standard label-to-agency pipeline. A lot of it comes from countries and creators who don’t have many other outlets — and while the festival still features plenty of familiar names, the reach feels broader. You’re just as likely to see a great piece from Bulgaria, Mexico, or South Korea as you are from London or LA.

It’s also not stuffed with categories to pad the entry fees. It’s a tight 15, keep it mostly to what you would expect, with a couple really fun random ones that help keep things weird, like “Most Trashy.”

It’s honestly the most inspired and creative, with enough real industry buy in to keep it from feeling too niche. I’ve never been, but in pictures it also looks like they have a huge, massive, almost intimidating trophy which earned them extra points.

So we’re going B-Tier for now, but one of the few that are trending upward.

AICP, Camerimage, Ciclope, Clio, D&AD

AICP, Camerimage, Ciclope, Clio, and D&AD are all getting lumped together. One so I don’t have to try to pronounce them again. And two because no matter what your commercial rep things, these have no value in music videos.

C-Tier, all of them. Don’t waste my time.

Tribeca

Tribeca started accepting music videos as part of their shorts program in 2022, giving them their own category. In their announcement, Tribeca gave no context to why they would suddenly start programming music videos after 22 years, other than citing that in the past they have occasionally programmed some films that were vaguely music themed, including a short film about Blondie one time.

The music video blocks have been unusually short—usually about 8 videos and between 30–45 minutes. And the programming has been extremely random. It’s not cutting-edge, it’s not indie, it’s not pop, it’s not even New York–themed. It’s been mostly mid-to-decent label videos. Sometimes there will be one standout, never anything great, but every year so far there has been at least one complete head-scratcher. This year, it was Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge’s “Madame President,” a video by an unsigned 17-year-old singer-songwriter released just prior to the election last year.

It’s just a really confusing and tone-deaf choice to screen this video eight months after the election in which the candidate it supports lost, and that the harmful impacts of that loss are increasing by the day. The themes of this song aren’t complex or timely. It’s not a protest anthem. It’s the type of song you’d hear at a county fair in a blue state. Whoever decided this would be a good video to screen in June of 2025 was at best misguided.

Tribeca added a unique component to this year’s festival, as the screening featured Kid Cudi’s world premiere of his short film Neverland with an extended Q&A. It’s rare that a music video block will feature a premiere—usually the Internet gets music videos first—which somewhat goes against the spirit of a film festival. So I see why they did this. No disrespect to Kid Cudi, but unfortunately in this case it just comes off as a gimmick to make up for bad programming.

To be fair, the Tribeca name still holds weight, especially outside the music video community. But that’s almost the problem. They are suggesting to their audience that this random sampling of music videos is representative of the music video industry. Robert De Niro and Steve Buscemi showing up doesn’t mean the selections are any more legit.

Tribeca has the clout to be one of the greats. They have NYC prestige and a voice when they want to. But they really need to get their act together and do some outreach to the music video community. Until then they’re stuck at C-Tier.

BET Awards

What people call the MTV era is technically the MTV, BET, and even VH1 era. All three had their place in the music video ecosystem. And for certain genres, and certain videos, BET was even more synonymous than MTV.

There are the obvious BET Uncut videos that MTV outright “banned,” like Nelly’s “Tip Drill” or N.E.R.D. “Lapdance.” But in the early days, MTV didn’t play videos by black artists at all. And even once that changed, for years they stayed away from hip-hop, soul, or anyone that wasn’t Price or Michael Jackson. And they continued to have blindspots even after launching Yo! MTV Raps.

BET didn’t just showcase black musicians, it was also the launchpad for black directors who helped create the visual language of pop videos to this day, not just hiphop videos. And BET is one of the only major televised award shows that still recognizes that. They actually have a “Video Director of the Year” category. That’s more than the Grammys. It’s more than SXSW. It’s more than most film festivals that toss music videos into a side block and call it a day. The fact that BET names and honors the directors — not just the artists — shows that they at least understand there is a behind-the-scenes culture that matters.

The BET Best Director award has also served as a chance to fill in MTV’s blind spots. Iconic directors like Benny Boom, Chris Robinson, Alan Ferguson, Director X, and Kahlil Joseph have all won BET awards but have never even been nominated for VMAs. Even the legendary Hype Williams has never won a VMA for directing (although he’s been nominated 6 times), but he has won one from BET. Fun fact, Erykah Badu has a best directing award from both BET and MTV. Legend.

While it deserves credit for celebrating and actually awarding directors that MTV overlooks, the directing category hardly ever changes. The category has existed for 17 years and Benny Boom has been nominated 16 times. Benny is one of the all time greats, so 10 or so of those are probably valid. But it’s a bad look to give anyone a permanent spot in a category.

 B-Tier for the culture and history. Even tho they are clearly on auto-pilot.

Webbys

We round out the list with the Webbys. This is not praise. This is to demonstrate how few legit options.

The Webbys are a catch-all digital award show celebrating “excellence on the Internet.” It’s an umbrella so wide that music videos inevitably get lumped in and treated like just another bit of internet content. Tossed in alongside branded TikToks, mobile apps, and celebrity podcasts. The result is a category that lacks definition, lacks industry connection, and obviously lacks taste.

There’s a “jury” award (the Webby) and a separate “People’s Voice” award voted on by the public. That may sound democratic, but in reality, it rewards whoever has the biggest online following or best email list. The music video winner tends to go to whatever major label bothered to enter.

The nons used to be selected by a committee but now it’s fully pay-to-play and extremely expensive to enter. Like close to a grand. Definitely the highest we’ve seen. So high that an individual director is priced out of entering themselves.

If you were online in 2010 it might feel nostalgic to win one. And aesthetically the design of the trophy is funky. But for a music video in 2025, it’s a C-Tier award.

And that’s the list. I did it. You did it. But most of all, we did it.

Do you agree with these takes? Do you disagree with these takes? Let us know in the comments below.