WIA Awards 55 Emerging Creatives with 2024-2025 Scholarships

Today, WIA announced the 55 global recipients — the largest group of award recipients to date — of the WIA Scholarship fund. The WIA Scholarship Program is an annual award committed to furthering deserving students who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, a financial need and a promising future in animation, VFX or gaming. WIA student members were encouraged to apply, no matter in what region of the world they are academically pursuing their animation career interests.

The scholarship pool totals $18,500 and also features $92,819 in workshops, tutoring opportunities, animation equipment, and software packages for recipients of the 2024-2025 cycle from industry partners Animation Focus, Animation Mentor, ArtStation, Foundry, LAIKA, Toon Boom, TVPaint, Wacom, Walt Disney Animation Studios, WIA Montreal Chapter, Xencelabs and YellowBrick Learning.

“I’m excited to celebrate this year’s scholarship recipients and the incredible potential they bring to our industry,” said Marge Dean, WIA President. “These scholarships provide critical support and empower talented students to continue their education so they can make their own marks in the animation, VFX and gaming fields. I am truly proud to see how the program has grown and the positive impact it makes on people’s lives.”

One of those recipients is Bahar Rezvanifar, who said she was still amazed at being chosen for a WIA Scholarship.

“Five years ago, when I was studying animation in high school in Iran, I learned about WIA. Today, I’m studying in one of the top animation schools in the US and receiving support from WIA through their scholarship program,” said Rezvanifar, a student at Savannah College of Art and Design. “I can’t describe how much this support means to me. I told myself that if I worked day and night for it, I would make it. I can’t believe I did! I feel proud of myself and genuinely grateful to WIA.”

Rezvanifar is one of the 14 students chosen as most deserving of scholarships, in addition to 41 students as honorable mentions. They were among 179 total applicants from 77 schools across the U.S. and Puerto Rico as well as Canada, the U.K., France, Nigeria, Hungary, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Brazil and Ecuador.

The scholarship recipients are (in alphabetical order):

• Charlea Galea McClure, Concordia University
• Maya Gregoire, Dawson College
• Mishi Lee, Savannah College of Art & Design
• Hannah Miller, University of Southern California
• Ryleigh Moule, Moore College of Art and Design
• Autumn Noel, Maine College of Art & Design
• Alex Nguyen, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Karen Ramirez, ArtCenter College of Design
• Bahar Rezvanifar, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Micah Sanders, School of Visual Arts
• Amber Schmoyer, Ringling College of Art and Design
• Abigayle Schroder, Pratt Institute
• Zoharah Kolkur Sørensen, The Animation Workshop, VIA University College
• Xinyi Wu, Art Center College of Design

The scholarship winners’ full bios can be found on the WIA scholarship page.

Beyond those students who received cash scholarships, WIA also announced 41 Honorable Mention Winners who were awarded software and/or workshop packages to boost their animation skills.

• Animation Focus provides online animation tutoring on a 1:1 basis with a professional feature film character animator for 1 hour per week for 4 weeks. One WIA scholarship recipient will receive a place in one 2025 Animation Focus class.
• Animation Mentor offered one WIA Animation Scholarship winner a six-week workshop. They will award the choice of several courses including Maya Workshop: Animation Basics, Game Animation Fundamentals, and Cartoony Animation for 3D Animators.
• ArtStation returns as a supporter providing 25 one-year ArtStation Pro upgrades to finalists.
• Foundry will award $2,500 in scholarship funds and an annual subscription Production Collective license to its suite of products, including Nuke Studio, Katana, Mari and Modo.
• LAIKA will again be giving out two cash awards, up to $2,000 to two deserving students who specialize in stop motion. LAIKA hopes to take this opportunity to foster future talent that shares the same passion for stop-motion filmmaking.
• Toon Boom continues to support the WIA Scholarship and will provide software and training courses. They have provided 20 one-year bundled licenses of Storyboard Pro and Harmony Premium to finalists and 10 virtual training courses.
• TVPaint is generously donating software licenses to three winners this year. Two winners will receive licenses for TVPaint Animation 12 Professional, and one winner will receive a license for TVPaint Animation 12 Standard.
• Walt Disney Animation Studios is supporting this year’s scholarship by donating $12,000 in scholarship funds distributed to scholarship winners.
• Wacom is donating Movink pen displays to 5 WIA scholarship winners because they understand the importance of having professional-level technology that will set the talent apart for both freelancing work and their creative portfolios making them more hire-able in the Animation industry.
• WIA Montreal Chapter is offering $1,000 CAD scholarships to 2 students currently studying in Montreal or elsewhere within the province of Quebec.
• Xencelabs believes in limitless creativity and is dedicated to helping organizations that inspire new voices and fresh perspectives in the animation industry. To further this commitment, Xencelabs is offering a Pen Display 16 Essentials to one WIA scholarship winner.
• YellowBrick Learning is proud to announce that it is offering 10 awardees the all-new NYU Tisch Animation Industry Essentials course.

WIA’s Chair of Education, Hsiang Chin Moe, who has overseen the program for the last five years, noted the incredible growth of the program — not just in operations but in the ever-rising talent, skills, and strengths of our emerging artists.

“This year, we are proud to award a total of $111,000+ USD in cash scholarships and in-kind donations for our honorable mentions,” Moe said. “As we continue to nurture the next generation of creators, artists and storytellers, WIA remains uniquely positioned to provide vital support and opportunities made possible through the generosity of our sponsors and donors. Congratulations to all the awardees! We have many exciting plans ahead to connect and empower our scholarship alumni in the coming year.”