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Rookie Awards 2022

The 12th Annual Rookie Awards is open to young creatives in visual effects, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3d visualisation. There is simply no better way to launch your career and start sharing your amazing work online.

Enter Contest

Archived Contests

Take a look back in time at our previous contests run here at The Rookies. Dig in and check out all the amazing entries and get inspired.

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Winter Stories - A Lighting & Rendering Challenge

It's time to turn your winter blues into positive creative energy and channel it into some beautifully crafted 3D imagery.

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Netflix & Skill - Stranger Things

Show us your skill, not your chill. Design, Render or Animate something that represents Stranger Things - An American science fiction horror drama television series. The series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements portrayed with horror, science fiction and childlike sensibilities.

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Knight Spider Animation Challenge

Here’s a challenge for all you aspiring animators looking to expand your talents. Rookie Alumni, Mehmet Tayfur Türkmenoğluwe has created an original character called Knight Spider using Autodesk Maya. This cool character has then been professionally rigged by Mike Fabris from Dr Reel https://www.drreel.com.

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Adobe Substance 3D - Virtual Photography

Adobe has just dropped Adobe Substance 3D, a collection of powerful 3D tools for both professionals and young artists. Let's take it for a spin!

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Flash Gordon Modeling Contest

It's your turn to re-imagine the famous world of science-fiction spaceman hero Flash Gordon and bring our concept art brief to life in this modeling challenge.

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Rookie Awards 2021

The 11th Annual Rookie Awards is open to young creatives in visual effects, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3d visualisation. There is simply no better way to launch your career and start sharing your amazing work online.

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World of Real-time Discoveries

Discovering new worlds with their own life, creatures and biomes has always been something spectacular for the imagination and the adventurous spirit. Whether in movies or in video games, exploring these places is always something exciting and thrilling for the viewer.

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Rebelway FX Challenge

With over $13,000 worth of prizes up for grabs what's not to like about this challenge! We are really excited to bring this first ever FX contest to our community in partnership with Rebelway. The team at Rebelway have provided some amazing assets and resources to help meet the contest brief.

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Substance Texturing Challenge - Kombi

This texturing challenge requires you to texture a beautiful model of our Kombi van using any of the Substance apps (Substance Painter, Substance Designer or Alchemist).

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Animation Challenge - Crazy in Quarantine

We're excited to announce our first animation challenge. This is a theme that should resonate with most people during these crazy days of COVID. We're expecting some dramatic and original animations.

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Substance Texturing Challenge - Eddie Robot

Our first texturing challenge requires you to texture Eddie - an amazing 3D robot created by Paul Braddock, using the latest release of Substance Painter.

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Forbidden Lands, Fallen Empires and Ancient Guardians

Illustration contest where entrants can win a VIP ticket to Syn Studio Gathering of Masters, Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and ArtStation memberships.

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Monster Challenge

Our first Monster Challenge requires you to delve deep into the dark, look inside the closet, and into the shadows to come up with an amazing monster.

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Rookie Awards 2020

The 10th Annual Rookie Awards is open to young creatives in visual effects, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3d visualisation. There is simply no better way to launch your career and start sharing your amazing work online.

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Netflix & Skill - Peaky Blinders

Show us your skill, not your chill. Design, Render or Animate something that represents Peaky Blinders - a notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham, England, is led by the fierce Tommy Shelby, a crime boss set on moving up in the world no matter the cost.

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Summer Photorealism

Everyone loves Summer, and everyone has fond memories of what makes this time of year special to you. We want you to share this with us and create a 3d rendering that best represents this.

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Circus Challenge

We first launched this challenge back in May 2011. It's time to revisit all the exotic animals, performers and wonder that was created for us all those years ago.

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Rookie Awards 2019

Started in 2010, this is our biggest annual contest. It's open to young creatives in visual effects, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3d visualisation. There is simply no better way to launch your career and start sharing your amazing work online.

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