VidCon 2018 wrapped up this weekend — but fear not. We won’t have to wait until next year to talk about VidCon again. VidCon co-founder Hank Green has just revealed a huge grant program named the VidCon Creator Grant Program.
Over the next 52 weeks, VidCon will be awarding a $2,000 grant to a new video creator each week. That’s going to be a cumulative total of $104,000 over the coming year! And the best part is there are no restriction on how you use the prize money: “[You can use the $2,000] however you want. If this is just going to help you make rent, that’s fine with us. If you want to get a new camera? Go for it. New lights? A drone? Hiring an editor for a big project? Yes! If you buy a bunch of lottery tickets with it, well, that would be disappointing, but we can’t stop you,” reads the VidCon FAQ.
This program is intended to refocus the industry’s priorities back to the video creator community. Video creators have had a tough time making money on established video platforms like YouTube — which has made it harder for creators to earn and keep earning revenue.
“[W]e think we’re in trouble if the creativity and passion of the last ten years starts to be beaten down by the new established powers, whether that’s agencies or networks, or even VidCon, with it’s [sic] necessarily finite invites,” writes Green. “We just want to make things a little easier because we know this is hard.”
What makes you eligible?
There are however a few requirements that you’ll have to meet if you want to apply to the program.
First, you must live in the United States. Next you must be uploading videos to either YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Twitch, Musical.ly, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest or your own personal blog. Also, you must be consistently uploading two videos per month for at least two months prior to sending in your application and be raking in at least 150,000 views per video.
All submissions will be judged by a panel consisting of Green and the VidCon production team. Submissions are open now, so if you meet all the requirements, apply at vidconcreatorgrant.com.