SuperUnknown 22 Finals will be hosted by Palisades Tahoe in April, 2025!
Level 1 is excited to announce that Palisades Tahoe, CA is the official host for this year’s SuperUnknown Finals, bringing 15 of the world’s top men's and women’s ams to California at the end of April 2025.
Submissions for SuperUnknown 22 will open March 1 and close on March 14th.
Like last year, we will be inviting a bunch of the top freeski talent from all over the world to ski with us - from past SuperUnknown winners, to OG's we all know and love, to today's most skilled athletes. This year's finalists will have a chance to throw down with some of the greatest to ever do it during a week long session and park shoot. More info to come on who will be showing out - so stay tuned to @level1 instagram to keep updated!
About SuperUnknown
SuperUnknown was started in 2003 to help discover and expose the best unsponsored up and coming talent in the game, and give them a shot at making a name for themselves outside of the traditional competition scene.
The first contest of its kind, entrants were asked to submit a simple promo video showcasing their skills, talent, bag of tricks, style, and personality. No résumés, no still photos, no essay questions- just pure unfiltered video action. Entries were reviewed and judged by Level 1's staff and athletes. The most impressive skier each year took the title and was awarded a chance to film with Level 1 and given a foot in the door of the industry. 22 years deep, SuperUnknown is the biggest and best open video contest in action sports with over 150 entries coming in from top amateurs and the best undiscovered talent around the world.
LEVEL 1 SuperUnknown 22
OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES AND REGULATIONS:
The SuperUnknown contest is open to amateur male and female athletes worldwide, ages 12 and up.
All entries should be submitted online through the upload form on our website - quick, easy, and painless! The upload form will be open on March 1st through March 14th, 2024. Upload your video (technical details at the bottom) and submit the online entry form and you’re good to go!
Entries should show an athlete’s skill, style, and personality. The video must communicate not only the talent and ability of the athlete, but his or her personality as well, and may include lifestyle shots in addition to action. The contest will be judged, and the Finalists determined, by examining the overall skill, ability, style, and potential of the contestant.
How are we scoring entries this year? There’s no official scoring sheet, but here’s the breakdown on how we’re looking at entries:
- 10% Personality
- 20% Technical Ability
- 30% Style
- 40% Overall Impression
Powder and street clips go a long way to help your entry. While there are usually a few all-park finalist videos, SuperUnknown has always been an event for skiers making a path for themselves outside the traditional competition circuit - seeing people push themselves in multiple disciplines of skiing (park, pow, and street) matters to the judges!
-
Videos must be no longer than 90 seconds! Anything longer will get you disqualified.
-
Videos must be uploaded with the following file name:
YourName LastName SU22 entry.file (Example: Tom Wallisch SU22 entry.mov)
-
Tricks cannot be repeated, whether they’re rail tricks, jump tricks, etc, show them one time only! It’s fine to show something truly epic from a few different angles or different variations of a trick, but it's not helping you out to show that you can do the same trick more than once.
-
Only amateur athletes are considered eligible for the SuperUnknown contest and prizes. How do we define “amateur?” Basically if you’re receiving money as part of a contract beyond equipment and travel support, you are by definition a “pro” and no longer eligible. If you get free skis or someone bought you a plane ticket to get to a contest you’re still good to go in our book. We reserve the right to disqualify entrants if we feel the rules are being bent too far or broken.
-
Upon entry, the contestant grants Level 1 the rights to use submitted material as they see fit, in any and all mediums of distribution. Entry materials will not be returned. Online distribution or release of video submissions prior to the announcement of finalists will result in immediate disqualification of the entry. Sure you can release single shots on your gram before but KEEP YOUR FULL ENTRY VIDEO OFF YOUTUBE, TikTok OR INSTAGRAM until we have announced the finalists, if you want to enter!
-
Entries must be received by Friday 11:59pm (MST) March 14th, 2025.
- The contest winners are to be determined by Level 1 and our independent consultants. All decisions are final, and are not subject to dispute. Level 1 reserves the right to make amendments or changes to the rules at any point in time.
-
All finalists will be provided free lodging for the duration of the shoot at the resort, lift access, and transfers to and from the filming venue(s) for the duration of the shoot. All additional travel to and from the resort and/or any additional expenses are the sole responsibility of the entrant.
- In the event that one or more finalists is unable to attend the shoot at the resort, Level 1 reserves the right to fill their spot with another contestant, wildcard, OR leave the spot vacant at our discretion.
The Superunknown 22 winners will receive:
- Film budget/cash prize of $2,500 USD each
- Level 1 merch package
- Associated Media coverage in related web, magazine, and TV content
LEVEL 1 SuperUnknown TECHNICAL GUIDELINES
Please name your video file in this format: YourName LastName SU22 entry.file
(Example: Tom Wallisch SU22 entry.mov)
We highly recommend to render your video as a quicktime (.mov) or mpeg (.mp4) file with H.264 codec. For a video duration of 1:30 minutes this should get you a file size under 2GB, which is also our maximum allowance. The guidelines below should give you a little help.
Codec: H.264
A codec is the format in which your video will be encoded. Level 1 accepts most major video codecs, but for best results we recommend using H.264. If you’re uploading High Definition (HD) video, choose the High Profile H.264 setting instead of Main Profile. To make your uploads extra smooth, choose the following formats whenever possible: .mov or .mp4 (Please no .wmv or .avi)
Bit rate: 10,000 kbit/s (1080p HD), 15,000 kbit/s (4K)
Bit rate (aka data rate) controls both the visual quality of the video and its file size. In most video editors, this is measured in kilobits per second (kbit/s). When you have the option, choose a “variable” bit rate and set the target to at least 10,000 kbit/s for HD, 4K footage, we recommend at a bit rate of 15,000 kbit/s.
Resolution: 1920 pixels wide (HD)
The most common setting for HD video is 1920 x 1080 px (16:9 aspect ratio). You can use different aspect ratios as well, as long as it keeps with width to 1920px. And remember, we only judge your skiing. A video in 4k is nice but won't automatically qualify you for the Finals!
Horizontal or Vertical videos
You can enter in both formats, but try to keep your edit consistent. If you have mostly vertical phone clips, then try to match your horizontal footage to fill the entire frame. If you have a vertical clip in a 16x9 video, try to scale up the clip to fill as much of your screen as possible.
Audio Codec: AAC-LC (Advanced Audio Codec)
For best results, set your audio sample rate to 48 kHz.
Music/Soundtrack
You can use any music you like that matches your style of riding and editing. But you can also just submit shots in a raw editing style without any music, just showcasing your best bangers.
