2026 VBC will be:

Wednesday, September 23,

at Bridge Brew Works, @8:00 PM

*Wednesday after Yough Week/Gauleyfest!

20$ or 15$ with a can of dog or cat food *BYO-Camp Chairs

$1 of every draft pint sold goes to the Humane Society.

The VBC

ENTRIES:

If you are interested in submitting work to the VBC please contact:

John Cornwell at cornwell101 on Instagram

or Cara at carag.videob@gmail.com or @river_rat on Instagramfor information on how to submit.

*All entrants must be present to win a prize.*

SEE BELOW FOR ENTRY DETAILS!!

⬇⬇⬇

ENTRY INFO

2:00 minute limit for all videos*

*4:00 minute limit for OPEN CATEGORY

Categories Include:

Best Skit
Best Intro/Outro
Best Wildlife
Best Transition
Best POV
Best Rescue raft / kayak
Best Crash - Kayak
Best Crash - Raft
America’s Best Whitewater & International whitewater
*Open category

YOU CAN ENTER 1 entry to ALL CATEGORIES!

Only 1 entry per category.
In case things need to be cut for time, pick your top three favorites videos! IN ORDER!**

*add 1-, 2- , 3- to your the beginning of your video file names top 3 videos

ENTRY REQUIREMENT:

File name needs to be:

Category name - name of your clip - your name - run length.mp4 or mov

Example:

BestSkit-BananaJammers-JohnCornwell-2.00.mp4

*IF FILES ARE NOT NAMED PROPERLY YOUR VIDEO WILL NOT BE PLAYED*

**If there is not enough run-time videos might be excluded!! Please add 1- , 2- , 3- to your the beginning of your Top 3 video file names

Examples:

1-BestSkit-BananaJammers-JohnCornwell-2.00.mp4

2-BestCarnage-HerniatedDisc-JohnCornwell-1.30.mp4

3-BestWildife-BleepBloop-JohnCornwell-1.45.mp4

Open-Bungaloohoo-JohnCornwell-4.00mp4

Best Transition-Shwooosh-JohnCornwell-2:00.mp4

ENTRIES ARE DUE Monday Night Sept 21st BY MIDNIGHT!

NO EXCEPTIONS.

The Video Boater’s Challenge (VBC) is Fayetteville West Virginia’s annual whitewater film festival benefitting New River Animal Rescue!

For every year for the past 20 years, the festival has featured 11 different categories, such as best skit, best kayak crash, and best POV. This film festival is a way to celebrate the work of the video boaters of the New and Gauley Rivers, who capture the magic of the local raft companies and produce media from their own epic sends.

On September 23th, 2026, the 23rd annual Video Boater’s Challenge will take place at Bridge Brew Works. Folks from all over Fayetteville and those who have migrated for Gauley Season will arrive at this local brewery to sit back and enjoy the the great spectacle.

All proceeds from these entry tickets go to support New River Animal Rescue, as well as a portion of draft sales made throughout the night. Every year we raise thousands of dollars for this wonderful organization, while putting on an unforgettable show in the process.

VBC is sponsored and supported by many organizations, local and national. A special thank you to all sponsors for your generation contributions for prizes!

Immersion Research

Ace Adventure Gear

RMR

Green Water Aviation

Highwater Hobbies

Waterstone

Southside Junction Taphouse

Swiftwater General Store

Pies and Pints

Secret Sandwhich society

Pyranha

4 corners River sports