"Young Arrows" Animation Awards Now Open

The "Young Arrows" animation awards are open

Calling all Animation Apprentice graduates working in the advertising industry - The "Young Arrows" animation awards are now open, and entry is completely free.  Up to three entries may be submitted. The "Young Arrows" awards are judged by media professionals in the UK.  To find out how to enter, download the PDF of the entry rules and regulations.   The deadline is September 3rd. 

Young Animator of The Year Competition 2025

Young Animator of the Year Competition 2025

There is still time to enter the Young Animator of the Year Competition 2025.  

The Competition, created by Access VFX and supported by Screen Skills, BAFTA and the BAA Awards, is judged by professional animators. Winning films will be announced and premiered at the Manchester Animation festival.  Entry must be completed by September 1st, and is open to animators in the UK aged 11-22.  You can find more about it here: https://younganimator.uk/competition #animation #YAYUK

Young Animator of the Year Competition Open

Young Animator of the Year 2024

The Young Animator of the Year UK ("Yay!") 2024 Competition is now open for entries. Entries are welcomed from UK-based animators between the ages of 11 and 18 years.  All they have to do is submit their film to http://younganimator.uk by September 16th 2024.

Introducing...Loop De Loop!

Here at Animation Apprentice we're excited about Loop De Loop, a bi-monthly animation challenge that's a bit like The 11 Second Club, but with a loopy twist.

Loop De Loop seeks to create "a community of creative folks working together for the greater good of looping animation". Whatever that is.

So, how do students get involved with Loop De Loop? And what's it for anyway?

RealFlow Student Challenge - Worth S3,000

Time to enter the RealFlow "Deliciously Viscous" Student Film Challenge! At stake is $3,000 in prize money for the winning submission. RealFlow is one of the newest and most exciting software packages for creating realistic fluid motion in an animated environment, and $3,000 of prize money is a worthy prize pot. So, how does it all work?

Autodesk CD Student Awards 2015 - $360k To Be Won - Deadline 13 May 2015

Yes, you read that number right. Autodesk, creators of Maya and 3D Studio Max (among much else besides) have launched the CG Student Awards, featuring an astonishing $360,000 prize pool to be won by student animators and VFX artists. Not only is the potential prize money enormous, but once you enter, you still qualify for $96 worth of prizes - just for entering! Any student who is serious about a career in the animation and visual effects industry should not miss the chance to take part in this competition.  

Why Not Enter the March 11 Second Club Competition?

Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our student animators to enter The 11 Second Club, a monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators practice their skills and get their work noticed. Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided every month by the club.

Throughout the competition, participants can share their progress with one another and critique each other's work - just like in a real animation studio. At the end of the month, all the participants vote for the submission that they consider the best for that month - so it's a very democratic process. The idea of the 11 Second Club is "to give animators a chance to practice their skills in a fun, challenging environment".

Animation Apprentice Student Enters 11 Second Club - Two Days Left to Vote!

Henry Fenwick, one of our talented students here at Animation Apprentice, has just entered the online animation competition The Eleven Second Club (see his animation clip above), and he's looking for your support! You can still vote for Henry's excellent submission by going to the official site here, but hurry! There isn't much time left!

Why Animators Should Go To Siggraph This Summer

Siggraph 2015

This year Siggraph is taking place in the Los Angeles Convention Center, from 9-13 August. Siggraph is the world's biggest conference on computer graphics. Like FMX in Stuttgart, or the Annecy animation festival, it is the perfect place to find out about the latest technologies, meet other animators, find the big recruiters, and figure out where the industry is heading. It is, in short, a window into the digital future. We recommend that all our students attend events like Siggraph whenever they can - nothing will give you a better insight into the animation industry.

How Do Students Enter and Win in Animated Film Festivals?

There is no better way for a student to launch their career in animation than to enter and win animated film festivals around the world.

However, as the competition gets tougher all the time, how does a student have a decent chance to enter their film, get noticed, and win prizes?

We asked veteran DreamWorks storyboard artist Nassos Vakalis, whose short film "Dinner for Few" has been winning festivals all over the world, to explain the secrets of success.

Anifest Short Film Competition returns for 2014

The Canterbury Anifest Short Film Competition returns for 2014. Submissions are now open for animated shorts under ten minutes in length with entry closing on Tuesday 30th September 2014. Entries will then be considered by the Anifest judging panel, which includes Andy Frain, Producer of the cult classic Japanese animated film Ghost in the Shell, and Michael Arias, Director of Tekkonkinkreet.

Student RSA Design Awards Now Live

The RSA Student Design Awards (SDAs) is a curriculum and competition that challenges student designers to tackle design briefs focused around pressing real-world issues. They have eight briefs this year – each is focused around a different social, environmental or economic issue, and this year the challenges range from designing sustainable toys to designing ways of connecting people to their heritage. For the first time in recent history they are launching an animation brief titled ‘Moving Pictures’, which provides two exclusive audio files from the RSA Events programme, and asks students to produce an accompanying animation to energise and illuminate the content.

Nickelodeon Announces 2014 Student Animated Shorts Program

Nickelodeon has announced their 2014 Student Animated Shorts Program, and the deadline for submission is Monday Sept 15th. You don't have to pitch a finished film, just an idea in concept. You will need an idea, characters, a setting, a story, and some storyboards. This is an opportunity to have your idea for a TV series picked up by a major US network - time to sharpen your pencils and start brainstorming.

All About The Eleven Second Club

The 11 Second Club is a monthly character animation competition, and a great way for aspiring animators to practice their skills and get their work noticed. Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided every month by the club.

Throughout the competition, participants can share their progress with one another and critique each other's work - just like in a real animation studio. At the end of the month, all the participants vote for the submission that they consider the best for that month - so it's a very democratic process. The idea of the 11 Second Club is "to give animators a chance to practice their skills in a fun, challenging environment".

Aardman Animation's film competition: 'Success against the odds'.

National Accident Helpline has teamed up with Aardman Animation to run an animation competition called 'Success against the odds'. Aspiring animators are invited to create a short animation on this theme, for a chance to win a tour of the Aardman studios, a 'Make a Morph' workshop, an original Morph artwork signed by Peter Lord, plus paid travel expenses and accommodation. The winner and shortlisted entrants will also get personalised feedback on their animation from Aardman.

Why Animators should go to Annecy in June

Annecy is to animation as Cannes is to Film. And, just like Cannes, there is no particular reason why this small and rather attractive town on a lake in the French Alps should host the world's biggest animation festival - except for the fact that they have always done so. They got there first, and while many towns and cities now have animation festivals, Annecy is the first, the original, the biggest - and still the best.

Aardman Animation film competition - "Success against the odds"

National Accident Helpline has teamed up with Aardman Animation to run an animation competition called 'Success against the odds'. Aspiring animators are invited to create a short animation on this theme, for a chance to win a tour of the Aardman studios, a 'Make a Morph' workshop, an original Morph artwork signed by Peter Lord, plus paid travel expenses and accommodation. The winner and shortlisted entrants will also get personalised feedback on their animation from Aardman.