News

Rookie Awards 2026: Entries Now Open (This Is Your Moment Too)

Every year, The Rookies gives your students a global stage. But here's what we want to remind you of this year: it's also your stage.

Andrew McDonald

Apr 7, 2026 • 3 min read

Every year, The Rookies gives your students a global stage. But here's what we want to remind you of this year: it's also your stage.

When a student submits a standout entry, when they're shortlisted, when they win, when they land an internship with a studio because of the work they produced in your classroom, that outcome reflects your teaching. Your curriculum. Your mentorship. Your relentless push to make them industry-ready.

Rookie Awards 2026 is now open for entries, and we want every eligible student you teach to participate.

Why This Matters for Your School

The Rookies runs the only Global School Rankings built entirely around the quality of student work submitted to this competition. Schools are ranked based on the calibre and volume of entries from their students, not on marketing spend, not on self-reported data.

This is peer-reviewed, industry-validated recognition. A strong Awards season is one of the most powerful proof points your institution can present to prospective students, accreditation bodies, and industry partners. The window is open from now until June 22, 2026, that's roughly ten weeks of opportunity.

Every entry counts. Every finalist placement counts. Every win is amplified across our platform, our social channels, and our global community of 120K+ members.

What Your Students Are Competing In

Rookie of the Year is the core individual entry, twelve categories spanning Visual Effects, 3D Animation, 2D Animation, Game Development, Concept Art, Motion Graphics, Architectural Visualisation, Immersive Media, Product & Industrial Design, Web & App Design, Graphic Design, and Digital Fashion. Students choose the category aligned with their career destination, not just their current skills.

Career Opportunities can be added on top of a ROTY entry, connecting students directly with internships, mentorships, and professional development programs from our sponsor network, studios and software companies actively looking for new talent.

Film of the Year celebrates completed short films across 2D animation, 3D animation, and VFX. Ideal for capstone and thesis projects. Team and individual entries allowed.

Game of the Year is built for fully completed games, PC, console, mobile, and immersive media. Perfect for final-year game development projects. Team and individual entries allowed.

What Makes a Strong Entry

Encourage your students to treat their submission like a job application, not a class assignment. The brief is simple: one focused portfolio page that demonstrates they are ready for an entry-level role. Quality over quantity. Clarity over comprehensiveness.

Students who enter under the category matching their career goal, rather than defaulting to their most comfortable skill, tend to perform better and attract more relevant industry attention. If you teach 3D artists, help them decide early whether their future is in animation, games, or VFX. That decision shapes everything about how they present themselves.

Your Role in the Outcome

We see it every year: students who are encouraged by their lecturers to enter outperform those who discover the competition on their own. A brief mention in class, a tutorial dedicated to portfolio presentation, a departmental push to get submissions in before the deadline, these things measurably move the needle.

This year, we'd love to see you:

Share the competition with your students early
Set internal deadlines well ahead of June 22
Review the helpdesk documentation to fully understand the contest
Point students to our onboarding documentation and Rookies Live information sessions for guidance on building a strong entry

If you have questions about how your school's performance is tracked in the Global Rankings, or how to maximise your students' entries, reach out to us directly.