Nickelodeon and national non-profit Get Schooled — co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Viacom — have named DePaul University student Dawn Adepoju as the winner of the inaugural What’s Your Nickfluence? Animation Challenge for a $25,000 scholarship.
The global short film competition is meant to elevate and support up-and-coming animators by encouraging them to submit original works that share their Nick-inspired stories. The judges’ panel of Nickelodeon executives and animation professionals selected Adepoju’s My Nickfluence as the winner for her narration of how the network influenced her art and childhood.
According to the announcement: Adepoju enjoyed drawing at a young age, and what started as a hobby developed into a lifelong passion for creating stories through drawing, animating and writing. Growing up in a suburb of Illinois, she enjoyed watching Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.Currently, Adepoju is studying animation and hopes to pursue a career in the industry.
Five winners in the high school age group (13-17) were also each awarded a Wacom Cintiq 13HD Creative Pen Display, along with a one-year subscription for Adobe Creative Cloud services, courtesy of the companies. The winning and finalist films can be viewed at https://www.nickfluence.com/gallery.html.
