^{Credit: A Sparrow’s Song (Academy Baden-Württemberg), The 12 Inch Pianist (Rhode Island School of Design), The Shyness of Trees (Gobelins)}

There are a few ways for a short film to meet the Academy's criteria for Oscar consideration. One is to win an award from an Oscar-qualifying film festival. Another is to win a Student Academy Award. According to AMPAS, 3,127 student shorts from 988 colleges and universities across the globe were submitted for consideration this year. This list was narrowed down to fourteen winners, three of which are singled out in the animation category. They are..

The Shyness of Trees (Gobelins, France) - Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck du Plessis D’Argentré, and Maud Le Bras

A Sparrow’s Song (Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Germany) - Tobias Eckerlin

The 12 Inch Pianist (Rhode Island School of Design) - Lucas Ansel

Gold, silver, and bronze prizes will be awarded to these three films, which all automatically qualify for Best Animated Short consideration at the Oscars. Across the Animated, Live-Action, and Documentary Short categories, sixty-nine Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive Oscar nominations. The last Student Academy Award winner to garner a Best Animated Short nomination was Lachlan Pendragon's An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It in 2023. Over the past two years, Boom, Au Revoir Mon Monde, and Origami were among the Student Academy Award winners that made the Oscar shortlist, but not the final nominations lineup. 

The Shyness of Trees is currently available to stream in its entirety on YouTube. A Sparrow's Song and The 12 Inch Pianist aren't on YouTube as of now, but their trailers are. Check them out below: 

Outside of animation, the Student Academy Award winners in the Alternative/Experimental category are Mati Granica's flower_gan (London College of Communication, United Kingdom), Xindi Zhang's The Song of Drifters (University of Southern California), and Vega Moltke-Leth's Without Perfection (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). Beyond the Student Academy Awards, the Oscar race is heating up on the film festival circuit. Michael Granberry's Les bêtes, Pierre-Luc Granjon's The Night Boots, and Giovanna Ferrari's Éiru, which Cartoon Saloon produced, are just a few festival winners that've qualified for Oscar consideration so far. Stay tuned for more coverage on the Best Animated Short race here at Cartoon Contender! 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!