WIA Announces and Honors Scholarship Recipients at the 2024 BRIC Talent and Innovation Summit

Los Angeles, CA — Today, for the first time since 2020 — the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — WIA Scholarship winners were announced in person as part of the 2024 BRIC Talent and Innovation Summit. WIA’s Chair of Education, Hsiang Chin Moe, proudly announced the 42 recipients from all over the world of this year’s WIA Scholarships — the largest group to receive cash awards and honorable mentions to date. The WIA Scholarship Program is an annual award committed to furthering deserving students who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, a financial need, and a promising future in animation, VFX, or gaming. WIA student members were encouraged to apply, no matter in what region of the world they are academically pursuing their animation career interests. The scholarship pool totals $29,000 and also features workshops, tutoring opportunities, animation equipment, and software packages for recipients of the 2024 cycle from industry partners Animation Focus, Animation Mentor, ArtStation, Foundry, LAIKA, Toon Boom, Wacom, WIA Bay Area Chapter, WIA Montreal Chapter, and YellowBrick Learning.

“We are excited to be back in person at the BRIC Summit for the WIA Scholarship presentations,” Marge Dean, WIA president, said. “During my time as WIA president, I have seen firsthand how our WIA Scholarship program has had a positive impact on the lives of future generations of creatives in our industry. I am immensely proud of its growth and eager to see the remarkable contributions these talented students will make to our industry.”

Out of 189 applications from 76 schools across the US and Puerto Rico as well as Bulgaria, Canada, India, Ireland, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam during the 2023-2024 program, the WIA scholarship committee selected these 17 amazing students as most deserving of scholarships, in addition to 25 students as honorable mentions.

The scholarship recipients are (in alphabetical order):

• Minha Aamir  – Sheridan College
• Amarise DeFranco – California Institute of the Arts
• Emy Galustyan – California Institute of the Arts
• Dina Garatly – University of Southern California
• Julieta Herrera-De Anda – Woodbury University 
• Lyly Hoang – California Institute of the Arts
• Rebecca Huang – School of Visual Arts
• Julianne Li – Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
• Lin Jin – Ringling College of Art and Design
• Elizabeth Michelle Albin Marakasherry – School of Visual Arts
• Maria Jaramillo – California Institute of the Arts
• Erika Salazar Gutierrez – California Institute of the Arts
• Aaron Sams – School of Visual Arts
• Ivy Tan – California Institute of the Arts
• Jamie Tran – Academy of Art University
• Taylor Yingshi – Columbia University
• Ashley Love Yumul – De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde

The scholarship winners’ full bios and website links are be posted on the WIA scholarship page.

“I feel insurmountable gratitude, pride, and appreciation in being chosen for the WIA scholarship,” Amarise DeFranco, a student at California Institute for the Arts. “Receiving recognition from this organization in such a matter is only further reassuring me that there are people out there who genuinely care for the passions of artists and that I am worthy enough to receive knowledge that’ll prepare me for a professional career in the animation industry.”

DeFranco’s sentiments were echoed by fellow scholarship recipient, Ashley Love Yumull.

“I didn’t expect to be chosen to receive a scholarship from an international organization, so it felt surreal and shocking when I saw the email,” Yumul who attends De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in Manila, Philippines said. “Being one of the chosen recipients of this scholarship means a lot to me and my family who are currently struggling financially to keep up with my college’s tuition for me to continue my studies in the animation field, so I also felt very grateful and motivated to continue pursuing my dreams as an animator!

Beyond those students who received cash scholarships, WIA also announced 25 Honorable Mention Winners who were awarded software and/or workshop packages to boost their animation skills.

• Toon Boom — supporting the WIA Scholarship Program for the fourth year in a row — will provide both software and scholarship funds. They have provided twenty one-year bundled licenses of Storyboard Pro and Harmony Premium were awarded to finalists as well as virtual training.
• ArtStation returns as a supporter providing 25 one-year ArtStation Pro upgrades.
• Animation Focus provides online animation tutoring on a 1 to 1 basis with a professional feature film character animator – 1 hour per week for 4 weeks. One WIA scholarship recipient will receive a place in one 2024 Animation Focus class.
• Animation Mentor offered one WIA Animation Scholarship winner a six-week workshop and will award the choice of several courses including Maya Workshop: Animation Basics, Game Animation Fundamentals, and Cartoony Animation for 3D Animators.
• Foundry will award $2,500 in scholarship funds together with an annual subscription Production Collective license to its suite of products, including Nuke Studio, Katana, Mari and Modo.
• LAIKA will again be giving out two cash awards, up to $2,000 to two deserving students who specialize in stop motion. LAIKA hopes to take this opportunity to foster future talent that shares the same passion for stop-motion filmmaking.
• Wacom is donating 10 Cintiq Pro 16’s because they understand the importance of having professional-level technology, as it will set the talent apart for both freelancing work and their creative portfolios making them more hirable in the animation industry.
• YellowBrick Learning once again has generously provided 3 awardees their choice of one Yellowbrick online course for each winner, a $1,000 per class value, totaling $3,000 for the WIA Scholarship program.

“The WIA Scholarship Program holds special significance for me, as its impact extends far beyond financial assistance,” Hsiang said. “It is a recognition that emerging talent will carry with them as they progress in their careers. The support from all our sponsors strengthens our mission to promote accessibility and brighten the future for aspiring artists. Most importantly, I eagerly anticipate witnessing the future accomplishments of all the recipients, as we strive to help out more students worldwide through the various programs offered by WIA.”

Special thanks to WIA’s sponsors: Animation Focus, Animation Mentor, ArtStation, Foundry, LAIKA, Toon Boom, Wacom, YellowBrick Learning, and the WIA Bay Area and Montreal chapters for making this year’s program possible.