WIA Scholarship Program
The WIA Scholarship Program is devoted to furthering the academic efforts of deserving animation students who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, a financial need, and a promising future in our industry.
Applicants who have identified themselves as women, non-binary, or a person of underrepresented gender identity* and who are enrolled in schools all over the world to pursue various aspects of animation production are encouraged to apply.
2023-2024 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
THIS YEAR’S WINNERS ARE YET TO BE ANNOUNCED!
READ THROUGH THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM PAGE TO APPLY.
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be an active WIA Maker-level member and identify as female or non-binary. You can read more about our membership levels on our JOIN PAGE.
- If attending an accredited college of university:
- The applicant must be registered during the 2023-2024 academic school year as an undergraduate student in the sophomore, junior or senior year of study, or a graduate student.
- If the applicant is taking online courses:
- All online classes must be a minimum duration of 3 to 6 months long. Find a list of approved online schools HERE.
- All applicants must provide proof of at least one previous course they have taken that meets the outlined requirements above within the 2022-2023 academic year.
- All applicants must provide proof of current enrollment in class for the duration outlined above within the 2023-2024 academic year.
- Major: any field and aspect of animation production
- Cumulative GPA of 2.85 minimum on a 4.0 scale
- Applicants do not need to be US citizens or permanent residents to apply. In compliance with U.S. federal regulations, any non-U.S.citizen who receives a scholarship from WIA must not be listed on the published “Specially Designated Nationals” terrorism watch list
- Age: 18+
- Previous scholarship recipients are not eligible to apply.
Required Application Materials
- One personal statement, submitted in PDF format, not to exceed 500 words in English that tell the judges:
- Who you are as an artist
- What your career goal is
- Why you are applying for this scholarship and how you will plan to use the grant
- Samples of work:
- (Required) 6-10 examples of your fine art illustration, life drawing, photography, sculpture, character design, storyboards, etc
- (Recommended) A working portfolio website with required passwords
- (If applicable) A reel or a animated film (less than 3 minutes) of your creation that showcases the your skills
- NOTE: All reels/films should explicitly include what part you had in the creation process, listed with timestamp. Please credit the artists who have collaborated on any projects submitted.Reels without proper documentation or credits will not be considered.
- Accepted File formats: pdf, jpg, jpeg, png, gif, mov, mp4; file size: limit to 10 Mb
- One letter of recommendation, submitted in PDF format not to exceed 500 words, written in English:
- Written by faculty in your school or a industry professional with whom you have previously worked
- You are welcome to submit a second letter of recommendation (recommended but not required)
- One of the following documents to show proof of enrollment as a current full-time student, submitted in PDF format, such as:
- A copy of your current semester’s class schedule
- Enrollment verification issued by school
- A school picture ID that shows you are enrolled in the 2022-2023 academic year
- A transcript that shows the cumulative GPA, submitted in PDF format
- (Recommended) LinkedIn profile
Frequently Asked Questions
Browse our WIA Scholarship program FAQs page and find the answers to all your questions prior to submitting your application.
Other Resources
In addition to the WIA Scholarship Program, please check out a growing list of scholarship opportunities offered by many other domestic and international organizations. If you have any scholarship opportunities that you would like to share with the WIA student members, please contact us directly at [email protected].
LAST YEAR'S SPONSORS
The WIA Scholarship Program’s 2023-2024 Sponsors announcement is coming soon!
Displayed In Alphabetical Order
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 a 2023 Animation Focus class
Animation Mentor will offer one WIA Animation Scholarship winner a 6-week workshop (a $699-$899 value) and will allow that awardee the choice of several courses. With their choice of 10 different classes: Maya Workshop: Animation Basics, Cartoony Animation for 3D Animators, 2D Animation for beginners, 2D Animation: Walk Cycles & Character Movement, Pre-Visualization basics for animators, Storyboarding Fundamentals, Intermediate Storyboarding, Visual Development: Principles of Design, Game Animation Fundamentals, and Digital Painting, the student winner will have many options to best personalize this educational opportunity.
ArtStation is proud to support the WIA Scholarship Program and is offering 25 one-year ArtStation Pro upgrades to recipients. ArtStation Pro comes with a custom website builder, analytics, blog page, 4K uploads and video clips, and much more!
Autodesk is supporting this year’s recipients with licenses of their 3D modeling and animation software. Eight winners will have the choice between one-year subscriptions of Autodesk Maya or Autodesk 3ds Max
Foundry will offer one WIA Animation winner, $2,000 in scholarship funds together with a permanent Production Collective license to its suite of products, including Nuke Studio, Katana, Mari and Modo. This license will allow the winner access to Foundry’s industry-leading compositing, editorial, review, modeling, 3D painting, look development and lighting software.
LAIKA is excited to participate in the WIA Scholarship Program again this year and they will be giving out two cash awards, up to $2,000 USD 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.
Toon Boom is excited to support the WIA scholarship program for the third year in a row, helping to build a more diverse animation industry and providing support to new talent entering the market. The prizes include 20 licenses of Storyboard Pro, 20 licenses of Harmony Premium, and 10 Harmony Fundamentals Online Courses. The best way to prepare for a future in animation is to set a solid foundation with leading technology that will be used throughout a professional career.
Wacom is excited to be a part of Women In Animation’s mission. They believe everyone is creative and want to continue to provide access, support and awareness to those who are bringing a new voice to the industry. Wacom is donating Cintiq Pro 16’s to ten WIA scholarship winners 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.
WIA Bay Area Chapter is offering a $1,500 USD scholarship to one scholarship recipient who is living and studying in the Bay Area. This opportunity is also open to students who are currently living in the Bay Area but are attending schools elsewhere remotely this year.
WIA Montreal Chapter is offering a $1,000 CAD scholarship to one student who is currently studying in Montreal or living in Montreal while taking online classes at schools in other countries.
Yellowbrick Learning — Animation Mentor’s parent company — is proud to announce that they are also offering a separate scholarship award that will allow 3 awardees their choice of one Yellowbrick online course for each winner. (a $1,000 per class value, totaling $3000) With their choice of 22 different classes to choose from, such as Fashion, Music, Film & Entertainment, Beauty, Design, E-commerce, Hospitality, New Media, and E-Sports & Gaming, the 3 winners of this scholarship will get to choose 1 course each from their curriculum.
Past Winners & Runners-Up
To view an archive of past winners and runner-ups of the WIA Scholarship Program click on a link below:
* WIA recognizes gender is non-binary and intersects with every other aspect of identity. As an organization that advocates for gender justice, we identify people of underrepresented gender identities as women, including transgender women who are people who identify as women despite their gender assigned at birth, non-binary people, those who do not identify as exclusively male or female but may identify as both, neither, or some combination of the two, and those who are otherwise marginalized because of their gender identity.