June 26th, 2018 
Jerry Beck 
ASIFA-Hollywood and the Animation Educators Forum (AEF) are proud to announce the scholarship winners for academic year 2018-2019. This year’s scholarships total $40,000 and will be distributed to ten (10) students, both graduate and undergraduate, and include narrative and documentary animation projects, and formal academic research. According to the AEF judges, applications came in from all around the world, and each had their own passionate story to tell. The AEF scholarships are merit-based and designed to support college students in continuing their education in the field of animation. Each individual student’s written proposals, letters of recommendation from faculty, and demo reel/still art were taken into consideration as part of the selection process.
“I’m really proud of this year’s winners, said Dori Littell-Herrick, on behalf of AEF. “They represent a wide range of diversity. Two of our winners are Russian nationals studying abroad in Canada and Denmark; one of our US graduate student winners is Indonesian and plans to return to his home country to jumpstart the industry there; and the formal academic research award is going to a PhD candidate who is studying the relationship of sound and visuals in TV animation.”
The films are set in different cultures including China, Japan, and Germany, and discuss topics such as gender dynamics, child abuse, healing from grief and family relationships between different generations. “Six of our ten awardees are women,” Littell-Herrick continued. “All are talented and will, I am sure, go on to be valuable members of the animation community.”
This year’s awardees include stop motion, traditional and digital artists; documentary and short-film makers; and academic researchers and authors. All scholarship awardees will also receive a one-year Associate Membership to ASIFA-Hollywood.
The 2018-2019 AEF Scholarship recipients are:
Entering the 2nd year of a bachelor degree
• Darya Borisenko, Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada
• Catharine Ren, California College of the Arts, California, US
Entering the 3rd year of a bachelor degree
• Sofya Baychuk, The Animation Workshop, Viborg, Denmark
• Clarisse Chua, California College of the Arts, California, US
Entering the 4th year of a bachelor degree
• Rok Won Hwang, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida, US
• Trillina Mai, California State University Long Beach, California, US
Graduate students
• Ryan Andriandhy, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, US
• John Summerson, Royal College of Art, London, UK
• Benjamin Lin, California State University Long Beach, California, US
Formal Academic Scholarship
• Patrick Sullivan, University of Rochester, New York, US
ASIFA-Hollywood and the Animation Educators Forum is proud to support these ten animation students in their journey towards membership in the global animation community. Now more than ever, animation in its many forms provides a way to communicate across cultures and across borders.
ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, Animation Educators Forum, animated film preservation, special events, scholarships and screenings.
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