On May 10th, 2021, the sixth China VR/AR Contest celebrated its inauguration on the stage of ISLE exhibition in Shenzhen, China. The contest is the largest of its kind in China in terms of number of participants and the quality of nominated works. Since 2016, the sprouting year of VR industry in China, the contest has been held for five consecutive years and has attracted 1156 high-quality VR/AR creation teams from 23 countries to participate. 

The Sixth China VR/AR Contest is co-hosted by the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing Normal University, China Netcasting Services Association, People.cn and Center for Creative Media Research of Beijing Normal University. Its strategic partners include VeeR VR, Kwai, Canton Fair Advertising Co, Ltd., iQiyi VR, HTC VIVEPORT, Xinhua MEOCreatives, Magic AI, as well as Department of Public Relations of Emei Municipal Committee. 

Apart from the main Golden Bell Award competition section, the contest also hosts seven genre awards: best VR/AR creations for entertainment, tourism, drama, animation, news, documentary, and interaction. These will be accompanied by five special theme awards: Centenary of CPC’s Founding, Countryside Revitalization, Kwai Best Short VR films, Best Visual Effect and Liangshan Award. Nominations for the Golden Bell Award, however, will be crystalized from all the participating teams and works, under the oversight of an international jury of professional VR directors, filmmakers and academics. Apart from the Golden Bell Award and its ceremony, the sixth China VR/AR Contest will also host of series of academic forums and creative workshops focusing on VR storytelling and education.

Within the timespan of April to November 2021, the contest will host a competitive screenwriting workshop for teacher and students of higher education, researchers, professional filmmakers and VR aficionados. After that, outstanding screenplays and VR creation teams will be selected to participate in hands-on workshops in Beijng and other parts of China. In May, the contest will collaborate with ISLE exhibition to host the “Summit for Digital Media and VR technology” in Shenzhen. On June 3rd, 2021, the contest will join the Ninth China Internet Audio-Visual Conference and host a forum for the theme “Frontiers of VR Audio-Visual Development” in Chengdu, China. In July, VR creation workshop outside of BNU campus and Beijing will be inaugurated and teams will be participate in VR scenery creation in Liangshan, Sichuan. 

The opening ceremony of the Sixth China VR/AR Contest was held at Shenzhen Center of International Exhibition on May 10th, 2021. As one of the co-host, Member of Editorial Council of People.cn, the chairwoman of People.cn, Ms. Xingxing Chen gave a speech sharing her aspirations for VR development. She revisited many of People.cn’s journalistic projects that incorporated VR technology and pointed out that media convergence has entered a new phase given the Chinese government’s continuous and potent support. More importantly, she noted that VR/AR technology and new visual technologies will provide all social sections with opportunities for breakthroughs. VR/AR will indubitably welcome its next new phase given the wide application of 5G connections in China. Moreover, People.cn has firmly promoted the development of China VR/AR Contest since 2018, and has established Studio for Convergent Media, which focused largely on VR/AR creations and applications. These attempt has made People.cn one of the pioneers of VR/AR applications in China.

Mr. Li Zhu, the general manager of Canton Fair Advertising Co, Ltd. said that the ISLE exhibition should not be merely a platform for business and commerce, but also a greater stage for the exploration and conglomeration of distinct disciplines and markets. The summit will be a precious opportunity to enhance industry-university collaboration. In the meantime, he expressed sincere hopes that ISLE can collaborate with BNU to a much deeper and larger extent.

Deputy Director of the School of Journalism and Communication at BNU, Dr. Hongzhong Zhang gave a review of the six-year-journey that the contest has made through. He announced that the Sixth China VR/AR Contest will continue to be an open platform. The contest hopes to build a platform with four purposes: an interactive platform for the communication between the academia and the market, an integrative one for the creation of a complete VR/AR industry chain, a practical platform for the application of avant-garde VR technologies, as well as an output platform of VR/AR talents.

Hosts and strategic partners of the contest, including directors of schools of journalism and communication from other Chinese Normal Universities, CTAA, VeeR VR, Magic AI and others, inaugurated the contest together on the center stage. The Sixth China VR/AR Contest is successfully and formally initiated.