2024 Student Academy Award Winners List Are Announced in London

The Student Academy Awards have unveiled its 2024 winners during its first-ever London-based ceremony.

Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on 2,683 entries from 738 colleges and universities worldwide to select the 15 winning students’ works. The presentation ceremony was held at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London on Monday, October 14, where the placement of each winners among bronze, silver, and gold were announced.

All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for 2025 Oscars in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, or Documentary Short Film category. Past winners have gone on to receive 67 Oscar nominations (most recently, the animated short “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” in 2023) and have won or shared 15 awards. Filmmakers as Pete Docter, Spike Lee, Patricia Riggen, Robert Zemeckis, and Patricia Cardoso are award alums.

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For the first time in 50 years, the Student Academy Awards have moved from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California to London, while in partnership with Rolex and the BFI London Film Festival.

Student Academy Award winners will have access to panels and networking opportunities through BFI, as well as exclusive access to Academy members to support their career advancement.

See the full list of Student Academy Awards winners below (listed alphabetically by category).

Alternative/Experimental

Gold: Birdy Wei-Ting Hung, “A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers,” San Francisco State University 

Silver: Dori Walker, “In Living Memory,” Brown University

Bronze: Akshit Kumar, “bonVoyage pour monVoyage,” National Institute of Design, India

Animation

Gold: Florian Maurice, Maxime Foltzer & Estelle Bonnardel, “Au Revoir Mon Monde,” MoPA 3D Animation School, France

Silver: Kei Kanamori, “Origami,” Digital Hollywood University, Japan

Bronze: Spencer Baird, “Student Accomplice,” Brigham Young University

Documentary

Gold: Hannah Rafkin, “Keeper,” School of Visual Arts 

Silver: Aaron Johnson, “The 17%,” Chapman University 

Bronze: Rishabh Raj Jain, “A Dream Called Khushi (Happiness),” New York University

Narrative

Gold: Pavel Sýkora & Viktor Horák, “The Compatriot,” Filmová Akademie Miroslava Ondříčka v Písku, Czech Republic

Silver: Jens Kevin Georg, “Crust,” Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Germany

Bronze: Robin Wang, “Neither Donkey nor Horse,” University of Southern California 

First-time honors go to National Institute of Design, Digital Hollywood University and Filmová Akademie Miroslava Ondříčka v Písku.