Entry Criteria:

Director Eligibility:

• Entries must be directed by a DGA member under a DGA Agreement.
• A Director may enter one or more commercials as part of one entry in this category, provided all commercials have been directed by the same Director.
• Entries are accepted only from the Director of the project. An entry found to be submitted by the production company without the Director’s knowledge will be immediately disqualified.

Commercials Eligibility:

• Only commercials that have originally aired on television or streaming services during the period of January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026 are eligible.
• Foreign commercials and commercials produced for streaming platforms and other forms of New Media are eligible, provided they are made under a DGA Agreement.
• Entries may not include multiple versions or lifts of the same commercial.
• Commercials may not be re-edited and "director's cuts" are not eligible if they were not the version that was first distributed.

Length:
• The total length of the entry must not exceed five minutes of principal photography.
• Entries may include multiple commercial spots, provided the total runtime does not exceed five minutes.

  Examples include:

	One 5-minute spot		Five 60-second spots
	Two 2-min, 30-sec spots		Or any other division

Credit:
• The Director must have exercised all traditional directorial functions in connection with original photography.

Entry Requirements:
• The Director must submit a completed DGA Awards entry form. A confirmation e-mail will be sent upon receipt of the entry form.
• All entries produced under the DGA National Commercial Agreement must be accompanied by each commercial’s corresponding DGA Commercial Project Listing Form (CPLF) or applicable Deal Memorandum if produced under another DGA Agreement.

Entry Link:
• The Director must provide an HD link of the commercial submission(s) to be forwarded to the members of the DGA Awards Commercials Screening Committee. HD links that do not meet the following criteria will not be accepted.
• All submission links must:
  • Meet the following specifications: QuickTime Movie in Apple ProRes, 1920 x 1080, 23.98 fps.
  • Go directly to the commercials. The link should not allow viewers to access any other project or contain any additional information about the project.
  • Remain active for the duration of Awards. Link views should not expire before Friday, January 29, 2027.
  • A watermark may be included provided it does not obscure the entry.

Entry Deadline:

• All Commercials entry forms and HD link submissions must be received in the Awards office by 5:00 p.m. PT on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2026. No entries will be accepted after the deadline.

Judging Process:

• Commercials entries will be viewed by a Commercials Screening Committee that votes by secret ballot. The entries that receive the highest number of votes will be announced as the 2026 DGA Commercials Nominees on Wednesday, January 6, 2027.
• The Commercials Screening Committee will then vote by secret ballot to select the Winner of the 2026 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials. The Winner will be announced at the 79th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, January 30, 2027.

Should you have any questions, please contact the DGA Awards Office at Awards@dga.org or (310) 289-2038.