Animation is a huge part of the Overwatch universe. Between 12 animated shorts, several animated character story videos, in-game cinematics, and of course numerous fan-made films, animation is one of the best ways for both developers and community to tell stories about many of Overwatch’s 32 characters. It is also one of the most beautiful and inspiring forms or art and storytelling that enables various talents and passions, from drawing and writing, through modeling, character animation and editing.

Having seen amazing pieces of animation from the Overwatch community throughout the years, we know well there are so many incredibly talented people learning the craft and doing impressive work. At Blizzard, we would love to see even more and support aspiring talent. This is why we are announcing the Overwatch Student Animation Festival that will take place through 2020 and early 2021. We are partnering with a selection of great animation and film schools around Europe – and we will add more to the list soon! – but we are not limiting the Festival to just these. Anyone who is studying animation or 3D video production as a student at any European Union, Norway, Switzerland or United Kingdom school, college or university can participate!

Students are invited to take part in three 1-month long stages, each focusing on a particular theme and topic about Overwatch characters. Participants will be encouraged to create a short piece of drawn animation, 3D animation, stop motion or other type of animation, that should focus on the theme and topic relevant for the current month.

The monthly themes and topics are:

• October – “Vacations”
• November – “Cooking”
• December – “Day-to-day life”

More details about themes and topics, as well as the timings for each stage, can be found on the Festival website.

Jury

All the entries submitted through the Festival website will be reviewed by Blizzard and a professional jury consisting of the industry’s best experts in film and animation.

• Christian Volckman, a French Film Director who worked on the animation movie “Renaissance”,
• François Perreau, Studio Manager and Head of Animation at Superprod films
• Ryan Denniston, Lead Animator at Blizzard Entertainment
• Anna Morgan, Associate Cinematic Director at Blizzard Entertainment
• Jon Teer, Previsualization Supervisor at Blizzard Entertainment
• Benjamin Dai, Cinematic Director at Blizzard Entertainment

In addition to the reviews from the professional jury, the entries for all the stages will be eligible for the “Audience Choice” awards, which would be determined by the results of the public voting on the Festival website.

Prizes

For each monthly category, Blizzard will reward the winning students or teams from a prize pool, which includes cash. The culmination of the festival will be the Grand Finals, with the winning student or team receiving 6000 EUR and free Overwatch game licenses in prize. The total prize pool provided by Blizzard for the Overwatch Student Animation Festival exceeds 25,000 EUR in value!

You can find more details in the rules section of the website.

Follow the Festival website, and Overwatch Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels to be updated on the results and winning entries.

The applications for the participants will be open from early September. Submissions for the first contest month will be opened from October 1, 2020.

The world needs more animation heroes, and we can’t wait to see your amazing creations!