FAQs for Producers
Q: What are the KIDS
FIRST! criteria?
A. The baseline criteria are:
- No gratuitous violence or abuse.
- No inappropriate sexual
behavior.
- No racial, gender, cultural or religious bias.
- No replicable unsafe behavior.
- No condescension toward children.
Q: How do I submit a title?
A: Fill out the application
form following this link . Choose whether you are submitting for Endorsement, to the Film Festival or, if it's a TV series, for Recommendation.
Send your application, along with the number of copies required
along with the application fee to the address on the bottom of
the application form.
Q. How long does the endorsement evaluation take?
A. Approximately thirty to sixty days. If you need
a quicker turn-around, contact us online or call 505-989-8076 to request special treatment.
We can usually accommodate your needs. There is an additional fee
of $50 per title plus any special delivery expenses. Please don't contact us about the status of your endorsement before 30 days after your submission is complete.
Q. What does my KIDS FIRST! endorsement evaluation application fee
cover?
A. One fee covers it all! Once you've paid your application
fee, your title is evaluated and rated by our trained adult and
child jurors. You don't just get an endorsement, you also get
feedback from our focus groups of children of the appropriate age
whose actual comments are posted on our website on your title's unique landing page. If your title
is not endorsed, you receive a letter giving specific information
letting you know exactly why it was not endorsed and it will not
appear anywhere on our web site. If you make changes to it, you
may re-submit it for a re-evaluation for a fee of 50% of the original
fee paid.
All endorsed titles are considered for inclusion in the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. Going into its fourteenth year, the Festival is a showcase for new and classic children's films, DVDs and TV shows from studios, independent producers and kids worldwide, which travels nation-wide. The Festival travels to more than 50 different venues year-round.. The KIDS FIRST! Film Festival partner venues include children's museums, established film festivals, nonprofit film centers and community centers which host daily, weekly, monthly and annual screenings of KIDS FIRST! Official Festival Selections. Check our Festival website for a list of current screenings.
Q. What if my title is packaged with more than one DVD in the box, does that still count as one title?
A. As long as the cumulative length is no longer than 90 minutes. Otherwise, it would be considered as multiple titles. For example, let's say you have a 6 part series that you want endorsed. Each DVD is 45 minutes in length and the 6 DVDs are sold as one package. We would consider this a 3 title submission.
Q. How does the KIDS FIRST! Evaluation Process Work?
A. Titles are voluntarily submitted by producers or suppliers who pay an application fee. Evaluations are conducted by our volunteer jurors who are drawn from a pool of more than 200 adults who are child development specialists, teachers, librarians, concerned parents and more than 2000 kids - ages 0 through 18. Our evaluators are trained in the KIDS FIRST! Junior Film Critics program which teaches them how to use the standardized criteria and evaluation tools developed for KIDS FIRST!
Our jurors meet in many settings, including after-school programs, daycare facilities, girl scout troops, church groups and informal neighborhood groups throughout the U.S. and Canada. They represent a very diverse population which gives us input from many different cultural groups. Each title is evaluated by five adults and five children's groups, comprising five to thirty children each.
Every title that receives a KIDS FIRST! endorsement is added to the "reviews" section of our web site, will be featured in one of our monthly newsletters and will be listed in our "new endorsement" web site section. With more than 1.3 million hits per month, this is a great way for your title to gain visibility. You pay nothing extra for this.
-
Home office address:
KIDS FIRST!
Coalition for Quality Children's Media
112 W. San Francisco St., Suite 305A
Santa Fe, NM 87501
