Student Academy Awards


The Student Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is an annual awards program for college and university filmmakers.

Description

The awards were originally named the Student Film Awards and were first presented in 1973. The current name was adopted effective in 1991. Since 1975, the awards have been given annually. The event has been held in October since 2017 and usually takes place at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.
The awards offer prizes in four categories: alternative, animation, documentary, and narrative. Gold, silver, and bronze awards are given in each category. Since 1981, a separate award has been given annually to a student filmmaker from outside the United States – however in the 49th annual SAA, the academy merged its domestic and international categories. This reduced the 7 categories into 4 = narrative, animation, alternative/ experimental and documentary.
Several award winners have gone on to significant achievement as filmmakers, including Robert Zemeckis, Bob Saget, Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Pete Docter and John Lasseter. Some of the award-winning student films have themselves been nominated for and/or won the Academy Award in the short film categories, including Chicks in White Satin, The Janitor, Karl Hess: Toward Liberty, The Lunch Date, 9, Quiero ser , Gang Cops, The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club, The Red Jacket, On the Line , God of Love, The Confession, ''4.1 Miles An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It and Dcera ''.
Copies for over 90% of films honored with Student Academy Awards, along with recordings of many of the awards ceremonies, are held by the Academy Film Archive.
In 2024, the 51st Student Academy Awards were held in London, and the following year the 52nd ceremony was held in New York City in the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
The Student Academy Awards are sponsored by Rolex.

List of winners

1970s

1st Annual Student Film Awards December 20, 1973

7th Annual Student Film Awards June 8, 1980

  • Animation: Nitemare, John Lasseter California Institute of the Arts
  • Documentary:
  • *Achievement: Karl Hess: Toward Liberty, Roland Hallé, Peter W. Ladue Boston University
  • *Merit: Crossroads/South Africa: The Struggle Continues, Jonathan Wacks University of California, Los Angeles
  • Dramatic:
  • *Achievement: Candy Store, Claude Kerven New York University
  • *Honorary: Happy Birthday, Randall Fried University of Southern California
  • *Merit: Murder in a Mist, Lisa Gottlieb Columbia College Chicago
  • Experimental: Sections, Sean Phillips University of Southern California

    8th Annual Student Film Awards June 7, 1981

  • Animation: A Bird's Eye View, Deborah Jo Short San Francisco State University
  • Documentary:
  • *Achievement: I Remember Barbra, Kevin Burns Boston University
  • *Merit: Jazz, Albert Magnoli University of Southern California
  • Dramatic:
  • *Achievement: A Man Around the House, Caroline Emmons New York University
  • *Merit: Willie, Coleen Higgins, Ghasem Ebrahimian State University of New York at Purchase
  • Experimental: Commuter, Michael M. Patterson California Institute of the Arts
  • Foreign Student Film: Maedeli la brèche, Jaco Van Dormael Institut National Superieur, Belgium

    9th Annual Student Film Awards June 6, 1982

  • Animation:
  • *Achievement: Guess Who's for Dinner, Kathy Zielinski California Institute of the Arts
  • *Merit: The Taming, Bill Jarcho Emerson College
  • Documentary: Face Value, Michael Kriegsman, Dan Montopoli New York University
  • Dramatic: For Heaven's Sake, Ken Kwapis University of Southern California
  • Foreign Student Film: Zone Surveillee , Olivier Langlois Institut National Superieur, Belgium

    10th Annual Student Film Awards June 5, 1983

  • Animation: No One for Chess, Richard Rosser Washington and Lee University
  • Documentary:
  • *Achievement: The Four Corners: A National Sacrifice Area?, Christopher McLeod, Glenn Switkes University of California, Berkeley
  • *Merit: El Matador, Arturo Ruiz Esparza University of Texas at Austin
  • *Merit: Where Did You Get That Woman, Loretta Smith Columbia College
  • Dramatic:
  • *Achievement: American Taboo, Steve Lustgarten Portland State University
  • *Merit: Children of the Corn, John Robert Woodward, Johnny Stevens University of Texas at Austin
  • *Merit: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, Spike Lee New York University
  • Experimental: Somnolent Blue, Monica Kendall School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  • Foreign Student Film: Over My Dead Body, Ingrid Oustrup Jensen National Film School of Denmark

    11th Annual Student Film Awards June 10, 1984

  • Animation:
  • *Achievement: The White Gazelle, Anthony Laudati State University of New York at Purchase
  • *Merit: Mr. Gloom, William G. Kopp California Institute of the Arts
  • Documentary:
  • *Achievement: Rodin's Balzac, Marilyn Waterman Stanford University
  • *Merit: The Wizard of the Strings, Alan Edelstein, Peter Friedman New York University
  • Dramatic:
  • *Achievement: Minors, Alan Kingsberg New York University
  • *Merit: The Lottery Rose, Gregory Popp, Frank Military Northwestern University
  • Experimental: Tuscola Moon, Dan Reed University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Foreign Student Film: Mother's Wedding, Jenny Wilkes National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England

    12th Annual Student Film Awards June 16, 1985

  • Animation: Observational Hazard, William G. Kopp California Institute of the Arts
  • Documentary:
  • *Achievement: Burley: Growing Tobacco in America, Robert Henson, Doron Schlair New York University
  • *Merit: On the Rocks, Kathryn Johnston, Iain C. Stobie University of Colorado at Boulder
  • *Merit: Witness to Revolution: The Story of Anna Louise Strong, Lucy Ostrander Stanford University
  • Dramatic: Heroes, Camille Thomasson University of Southern California
  • Foreign Student Film: The Leahys: Music Most of All, Peter Weyman York University, Toronto, Canada