Academy Awards for Students By Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger Photo: Academy Website
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is best known for the Oscars but on June 11th at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, fifteen students from colleges and universities around the world were honored by The Academy. The ceremony marked the 38th year of the Annual Student Academy Awards competition.
Presenters included actress Jennifer Garner, Oscar-nominated animator, John Musker and Academy award-winning producer, Edward Zwick. Academy President Tom Sherak also was made an appearance.
The generosity of The Academy was evident in the presentation of the awards. Gold Medal winners received cash grants of $5,000. Silver Medal winners received $3,000 and Bronze Medal winners received $2,000. Recipients were 12 students from nine U.S. colleges and universities and 3 students from outside the U.S.
The 2011 winners were as follows:
Alternative category
Gold Medal*: “The Vermeers,” Tal S. Shamir, The New School, New York
* Only one medal was awarded in the Alternative category.
Animation category
Gold Medal (tie): “Correspondence,” Zach Hyer, Pratt Institute, New York; and
“Dragonboy,” Bernardo Warman and Shaofu Zhang, Academy of Art University, California
Bronze Medal: “Defective Detective,” Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and
Design, Florida
Documentary category
Gold Medal: “Vera Klement: Blunt Edge,” Wonjung Bae, Columbia College Chicago
Silver Medal: “Imaginary Circumstances,” Anthony Weeks, Stanford University
Bronze Medal: “Sin Pais (Without Country),” Theo Rigby, Stanford University
Narrative category
Gold Medal: “Thief,” Julian Higgins, American Film Institute, California
Silver Medal: “High Maintenance,” Shawn Wines, Columbia University
Bronze Medal: “Fatakra,” Soham Mehta, University of Texas at Austin
Foreign Student Film category
Gold Medal: “Tuba Atlantic,” Hallvar Witzo, The Norwegian Film School, Norway
Silver Medal: “Bekas,” Karzan Kader, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden
Bronze Medal: “Raju,” Max Zaehle, Hamburg Media School, Germany
The Student Academy Awards were first started in 1972 in an effort to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the college level. Proudly enough, some past winners have gone on to receive 43 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 8 awards.
Earlier this year, 2010 Student Academy Award winner, Luke Matheny, won an Oscar for Live Action Short Film category for “The Confession”. A previous winner from 1979 and 1980, John Lasseter, was a nominee in the Adapted Screenplay category for “Toy Story 3”.
The Academy has given terrific opportunities to rising young talent. Their hard work has paid off well with success and recognition. This will only be the beginning to a future of award-winning work.
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