The Rookies 2018 Starts Now

Sydney, Australia, 7th March 2018 — Sponsored by Autodesk, The Rookies has announced the call for entries to their global competition and mentor programme open to young creatives in film, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3D visualisation. The final submission deadline is May 15th, 2018.

The Rookies offers students a “stamp of approval” as they transition from school to production, enabling their work to be seen, graded and commented on by industry experts. Applicants/they can also find out where they stack up against their peers. Winners walk away with studio internships, school scholarships, and prizes.

Since 2009, The Rookies have helped place 89 students in jobs across Asia, Canada, Europe, Oceania and the US. Past highlighted students have gone on to work on films such as “Wonder Woman,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Mummy,” “Iron Man,” “Captain America” and “The Avengers” and AAA level games such as Hellblade, Far Cry, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

“Young talent inspires us and along with The Rookies, we’re excited to support the great animation, gaming, visual effects, digital art and virtual reality content the next generation of creative professionals are creating,” said Amy Bunszel, SVP of Design & Creation Products, Autodesk.

“We are really proud of our judging panel this year which has a strong female voice from an amazing talent like Pavani Boddapati, a CG supervisor at Weta Digital,” said Andrew McDonald, co-founder of The Rookies. “We also have the incredible John Howe joining the panel this year who is famous for his work based on the worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien,” said Alwyn Hunt, co-founder of The Rookies.

The official categories for 2018 are Feature Animation, Digital Illustration, Visual Effects, Game Development, Virtual Reality, 3D Motion Graphics, Product Visualisation and Architecture Visualisation. Film of the Year (Visual Effects, 2D Animation, and 3D Animation), and Game of the Year (Console and PC, Virtual Reality and Mobile).

To be eligible to enter you must 18 years or older, and have attended a certified higher educational training facility such as a University, Academy, College, or Institute of Technology, between January 2017 and May 2018.

Important Dates: 07 March 2018: Open for Submissions, 15 May 2018: Submissions Close, 29 June 2018: Finalists Announced, 11 July 2018: Winners Announced.

The Rookies is supported by some of the world’s smartest companies: Autodesk, Shutterstock, Epic Games, Foundry, Blackmagic Design, Unity, Allegorithmic, Ranch Computing, Pixologic, SideFX, Ftrack, Oculus Medium, Wacom, Rayvision,

The following production studios are offering a range of fully paid internships and training programs to category winners: Weta Digital, Framestore, Method Studio, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, Rewind, Virtual Immersive, Trixter, Axis Animation, The Third Floor, Monkeystack, CVDVFX, Halon Studios, Electric Theatre Collective, Polygon Pictures, Ninja Theory, Plastic Wax, Architecture Office and Greenhaus GFX throughout Asia, Canada, Europe, Oceania, and the USA.