The 2016 AICE Awards reports today that a record number of entries have been submitted for this year’s competition for excellence in post production. The awards, which just closed its entry portal, now move to the judging phase, with finalists set to be announced in April.

Several factors are contributing to the rise in entries, which are up over five percent from last year’s record tally. The awards have added two new categories over the past two years, according to AICE Executive Director Rachelle Madden: Docu-Style, for documentary-style brand content, which was added this year, and Original Music, which was introduced in 2015. In addition, AICE’s awards committee continually revises and tweaks existing categories to ensure that they correspond to the kinds of work post houses are being asked to handle for clients.

Another major factor, says AICE International Board President Craig Duncan of Cutters Studios, is the surge in new members the association has experienced. Within the past several months, post houses both new and established have joined in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Dallas in the US and London in the UK.

“It’s clear that the best and brightest talents and studios in the post production industry believe strongly in the value of being a part of AICE,” Duncan states. “We’re seeing this in the number of companies that are reaching out to join one of our eight geographic chapters or as an at-large member.”

And while joining AICE makes these companies eligible for the AICE Awards, Duncan continues, they’re signing on for more than that. “They realize the benefits in terms of our advocacy on key issues that affect their businesses, the shared knowledge and re-sources we make available to members and the sense of community being a part of this association provides,” he notes.

Among the new members that have joined both the New York and Los Angeles Chapters are the global visual effects studio MPC (www.moving-picture.com), and Nomad Editing Company (www.nomadedit.com). Joining the New York Chapter is the editorial and finishing house Uppercut (www.uppercutnyc.com),

Joining the Los Angeles Chapter are A52 (www.a52.com), the visual effects arm of member company Rock Paper Scissors; the creative editorial shop Cartel (http://cartel.tv/); and the visual effects studio Jamm (www.jammvisual.com). Also out west, Mission Film & Design (www.mfdsf.com), a video finishing studio, has joined the San Francisco Chapter.

The Chicago Chapter has welcomed the audio post house BAM Studios (www.bamstudios.com), as well as the hybrid production and post studio Quriosity Productions (www.quriosityproductions.com), while in Dallas Lucky Post (www.lucky-post.com), has joined the Texas Chapter, which encompasses post houses in both Dallas and Austin.

Joining as at-large members are the offline editorial boutique The Assembly Rooms (www.theassemblyrooms.tv), which is based in London with representation in the US; the South Florida editorial and post house Mármol (http://www.marmolmiami.com/), which is based in Miami; and the finishing and retouching studio Trident Post Production (www.tridentpp.com), which is based in Boston.

The 2016 AICE Awards, which will be presented on May 12 at Navy Pier in Chicago, comprises 23 categories: product categories such as automotive and fashion and beauty; technique categories such as comedy, dialogue or docu-style; and genre categories such as music video. It also includes separate craft categories for original music com-position, audio mixing, sound design, color grading, graphic design and visual effects, and recognizes the best work emanating from its local chapters with Best of Chapter awards. Each awards presentation culminates with a Best of Show winner. The 2016 awards show will also recognize the first International Grand Prize winners in its Camp Kuleshov trailer competition for assistants.

For more information on the AICE Awards, please visit www.aice.org.