Rookie Awards 2021 - Entries are Closed

Rookie Awards 2021 - Entries are Closed

The gates are closed for another year! The 11th Annual Rookie Awards hit a new highscore with the number of submissions.

The gates are closed for another year! The 11th Annual Rookie Awards hit a new highscore with the number of submissions. Considering everything that has been going on, we are really proud of everyone who put in the hard work to get their entries submitted before the deadline.

Members took us to the moon in 2021.

Thank you members

We'd like to congratulate all our members who shared their work on the platform. We know it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and show the world what you've been working on. The good news is, it does get easier the more you share your work with others.

I know we say it all the time, but the work continues to blow our minds each year. The projects that have been uploaded are nothing short of amazing. If you haven't done so already, please go check them out. Members have put in a huge amount of effort to present their best work and it needs to be admired.

As always, we witnessed another hockey puck spike in entries during the final days, so thanks for literally destroying our servers and testing our team with your monster entry pages.

Follow this link to check out some trending entries.

A snapshot of some recently trending entries for Rookie Awards 2021

Thank you judges

The judges are our unsung heroes. With hundreds of judges this year we have a brains-trust that most Fortune 500 companies would kill for. Thank you to all judges that are generously donating their time to support all our community.

Please help me by thanking our lead judges who have been working super hard since the gates opened back in March. At this point in time, the judges have already added 32,605 scores which is an incredible achievement.

There efforts are admirable and what they are giving back to the community is nothing short of amazing. A special thanks to these lead judges that have contributed beyond expectation: Wataru Ikeda, Chris Downs, Rafael Gonzalez Quinones, David Jimenez Saiz, Javier Perez, Sonja Christoph, Christina Mandia, Caroline Voglaire, Asad Manzoor, Dennis Muller, Manuel Rivoir, Melissa Altobello, Gwenaelle Dupre, Marta Padilla, Luis Tornel, Caleb Ollivant, Rob Andrews, Nigel Hunt, Ash Thundercliffe, Louise Hastings, Arvid Schneider, Christeen Mackey, Rico Suyang Wang, Sefki Ibrahim, Robyn Daly, Charlotte MacKie, Sally Wilson, and Christy Page.

Unfortunately the job is far from over for all judges. Over the next month they will nominate finalists for each category and then select the overall winners that will be announced in July.

Thank you sponsors

As always, a special shout out to our incredible list of sponsors. Trust us when we say that this event and these opportunities would not be possible without their support. We are fortunate to have two major sponsors this year - Autodesk and Unreal Engine. It means the world to us that they continue to support the Rookie Awards after all these years and help our industries as a whole.

To all our other sponsors, your support means no less and we are honored to have your support again this year. Thank you Foundry, Substance by Adobe, NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, Chaos Group, Unity, Wacom, Weta Digital, Ninja Theory, BVN, Adobe, Important Looking Pirates, Flipped Normals, SideFX, 3D World, Unreal Engine, Maxon, Browzwear, Sketchfab, Kilograph, Sini Software, BINYAN, Outpost VFX, Marvelous Designer, Crystal Dynamics, On Animation Studio, Marmoset, Teradici, IO Interactive, INDG, 2G Studio, Goodbye Kansas.

The real MVPs on the Rookie Awards!

What happens now?

We have a mild panic attack, pick ourselves up and then continue with the judging process. Our next milestone is to select finalists for all categories.

Finalists will be announced June 30th, 2021. Once finalists are announced, the general public will be invited to help select their favourite entries and vote for the People's Choice winners.

Winner will be announced July 16, 2021 so make sure to check back soon.

Follow this link to check out some trending entries.