It is very important that no copyright material is included in the video that requires licensing authorization (do not play your favorite song in the background as we will not be able to re-post this due to copyright infringements). Follow the guidelines and user terms of the site you are submitting the video to. If you violate any of their terms they may take down your video. If your video is not up at time of announcement of winner, you will most likely be disqualified from the contest and the runner up will assume the prize intended for you.
Any profanity, nudity or illegal / immoral acts seen during the video submission will immediately disqualify the video from any prize eligibility. Local legal rules still apply and must be considered when producing content. 

Lighting is your friend. Make sure you have a very well lit shot when you record. Poorly lit models will lose points for lack of visual appeal (we do not give extra points for professional rigging and set up, but will deduct points for hard to see / blurry and illegible submissions).
Audio is just as important as video. We need to have a clean video. Hearing your dog barking in the background is not going to help your entry when we try to showcase it to others. Pick a quiet location where you are in control of most of the sounds in the background and the environment around you. Although we don't need studio quality audio, but clean and concise audio is still important.

Relevant content is key. We are not looking for your Oscar winning performance. Rather we want concise and relevant content to what the contest is asking. The more precise, the better the scoring will be in your favor.

Stable is good. Stable is great. Tripod is golden. If you can utilize a tripod, it will be ideal but propping up the camera and positioning the content into the frame of the shot is more then enough to score top points. A shaky camera or a heavy panting tired cameraman will only make your overall presentation less appealing. If our dog Rover gets motion sickness from watching your video, then we will probably not be able to score your submission too high. Think of Rover and his lunch. Keep him happy. Keep that camera steady.
Show off the entire model. Not just the angle you think works. Sometimes we want to see the entire 3D model, not just the side you think looks best. Don't be shy to capture the model in it's entirety.