BEVERLY HILLS — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences recently held its 43rd Student Academy Award Ceremony. Ringling College (www.ringling.edu) computer animation students Kal Athannassov, John McDonald, and Echo Wu were presented with the Silver Medal in the Animation category for their work on The Wishgranter. Seventeen students were announced as winners this year in the categories of Alternative, Animation, Documentary, Narrative, Foreign Narrative, Foreign Animation, and Foreign Documentary.
“This whole experience has been incredible,” remarks student winner Echo Wu. “We did not expect to come so far with the film. But it is moments like this we are extremely glad we worked as hard as we did on the film to make it the best we possibly could.”
Of this year’s seven projects competing in the final round, three were the work of Ringling College students. The Student Academy Awards took place September 22nd in Beverly Hills. The medal placements – gold, silver and bronze – in the seven award categories were announced at the ceremony. This makes the 12th Student Academy Award won by students of the Ringling College Computer Animation program.
"Congratulations to all three students who made The Wishgranter! It is truly a charming film, and the Academy has certainly granted the filmmaker's wishes by recognizing the amazing amount of talent and effort that went into producing their work,” says Ringling College computer animation department head Jim McCampbell.