Taking place on October 4th and 5th, the 24 HOURS: Animation Contest for Students enjoyed its 22nd year. This free contest challenges students to create a 30-second short animated film in less than 24 hours and invites participants from around the world. Hosted by animation professor, Aubry Mintz, the event took place at CalState Long Beach and smashed its previous record. With 559 teams from 107 different schools, a total of 2,155 students arrived from 23 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States!

Of the participants, 89 colleges were present, as well as 17 courageous high schools and 1 very brave middle school. More and more industry support has been shown for this contest through the supply of additional prizes and financial backing for students, such as an equipment request program for underserved communities. This program not only allows them to participate in the competition, but it aims to offer tools to assist in their learning. This year, this free international competition’s prompt was: In 24 HOURS make a 30-second film giving your team’s vision for the future with AI as a friend or a foe and show how our world might fail or benefit from its evolution.