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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 00:18, 10 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Indie Fest

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Indie Fest (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)
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I came across this while reviewing a draft. Long story short, this is a vanity award that doesn't seem to have actually received any coverage for the award organization itself. I state that it's a vanity award as the organization charges winners for their prizes, starting at $40 for a roll of stickers and over $400 for a statue. Awards are given out by the dozens each month, so it's a pay to play type of deal where if you pay, you can win. They also charge for submissions and also state that they will help promote the film. Another sign of it being a scam/vanity award is that the same address is used for the Impact Doc Awards, which has similar issues. I don't know if this started as legitimate, but the most recent version seems to be just pure vanity. I know that this isn't a cause in and of itself to delete, but I did want to add this as a bit of a preamble.

As far as the sources in the article go, here's a rundown:

  1. Mail Tribune: This is an article written about a former local resident winning the award and isn't about the organization. It's also not a wider reporting of the people who won. This is a case of a paper reporting on a local person, so not the greatest sign of notability for the award.
  2. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Same issue here.
  3. The Portlander: Same situation.
  4. GlamSham: This is a reprint of a press release since the same info was reprinted elsewhere verbatim and has typical PR wording, so it's a primary source.
  5. WMNF: Looks to be routine notification of a local event.
  6. Times of India: Only briefly mentioned.
  7. NJ.com: Briefly mentioned in relation to coverage of a local person whose film is being screened at another event.
  8. GlamSham: Reprint of a press release about a screening at another festival, only briefly mentioned.
  9. Times of India: Looks to be based off a press release about a screening at another film festival, only briefly named.
  10. CLATL: Database notification of event, info is likely supplied by the filmmakers so primary at best. Indie FEST is only briefly mentioned.
  11. HuffPo: It was posted by the director of the film so at best this is a primary source.
  12. IndieFest: Primary source.

I tried finding coverage and there's no real coverage of the actual film festival itself. Most of the coverage is like the above: press releases, passing trivial mentions, or local news sources reporting on a current or former local resident. What I think contributes to this is that the film festival has all of the hallmarks of a vanity award, as most outlets aren't going to cover film festivals like that. There were some false positives as more than one film festival uses the term "indie fest", but I just couldn't find anything. I don't think that the local coverage is enough to establish notability for this film festival. If there were outlets reporting on the awards then that would help a lot, but that doesn't seem to be out there either. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 08:20, 2 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Film-related deletion discussions. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 08:20, 2 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • There is, but I'd have to find sourcing for it. That said, it would be worthwhile to create an essay type page about vanity awards. I'd have to look into info about the business and organization vanity awards since I'm not as familiar with those as I am books and film, but I think I could ask at some of the applicable WikiProjects for help on that end. That's not a bad idea! ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 06:18, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • @MarnetteD: I've started my draft here. For now it's more of a narrative, but it's a start. I think I may bring this up at the film, company/organization, and book WikiProjects to see if they have anything to add or suggest. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 07:19, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete per WP:GNG as carefully and thoroughly argued by the nominator. Normally I might take minor newspaper coverage like the newspaper stories on various winners listed as sources on good faith, but the evidence that it's a vanity award makes me think a higher standard is necessary. It would be possible for a vanity-award pseudo-film-festival to still be notable, for instance if we had multiple in-depth publications independently exposing it as such, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:47, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Generally speaking, when I've seen people discuss whether or not an award is notable they tend to look at whether there are outlets that report the winners. For example, outlets like Locus Online or Dread Central will print listings of awards ceremonies that they view to be notable or major, like the Hugo or World Fantasy Awards, or film festivals like FantasiaFest. Those types of listings would be a sign of notability for an award since these types of articles tend to be fairly selective. Articles like the ones listed above aren't as useful for establishing notability because of the reasons I've stated above - that they're usually solicited somehow doesn't help. (IE, they're approached by the winner or their marketing team) I don't know if there's a notability guideline for awards, but if not perhaps there should be. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 09:20, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Started a draft here. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 09:34, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually looks like there's one here as an essay. It would be worth working on that. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 09:37, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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