CG Student awards: Five questions with Alwyn Hunt

CG Student Awards: Five Questions with Alwyn Hunt As we eagerly await the news of this years winners on June 3, we decided to catch up with co-founder Alwyn Hunt to talk VFX, inspiration and industry advice.

What was the reason you wanted to create this award?

When the other co-founder Andrew McDonald and I were both working in London, we saw an opportunity for a student awards because there were nothing out there at the time. We wanted to be able to showcase the excellent work students are doing. People are genuinely shocked when they see just how good student work can actually be - even we're amazed each year with the quality coming through. It's great to see, and that's what the awards are all about - showcasing the different talents from around the world and bringing it onto that global stage, via the website.

The other big reason? We want to try and develop a healthy competition between schools to be number one. We see some schools out there that really showcase the student's work, but rankings are usually just dictated by statistics from a select group of people. It's overwhelming when you're somebody that wants to learn and there's so many training facilities to choose from.

What have some of the past winners gone on to do?

Most of the intern winners have gone on to be either hired by the company they did their internship at, or it's been a springboard for them.

Last year, for example, Garrick Rawlingson, who won the animation internship at Weta Digital, was offered a contract after completing his internship. He got to work on the final installment of The Hobbit and now works there as a junior animator.

Likewise for Min Oh, who won the internship at Epic Games last year. He finished his internship and was offered a full-time position at the company of his dreams.

I am still in contact with a lot of the earlier winners and they are all doing very well in the industry. We even have one as a lead judge this year, so he's come the full loop.

There are some fantastic stories. We have documented quite a few of them, which you can read about in our blog section.

LINK:	http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/about-us/news-awards/cg-student-awards-fiv...
	See more stories from thefoundry

Most recent headlines