2011 Student Academy Award Winners Announced

There was a decidedly international flavor to Saturday night’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 38th Annual Student Academy Awards, with top medalists hailing from homelands spanning the globe — from Norway to South Korea to Israel to Brazil.

“For the first time Foreign Film is not just an honorary category, as it has been for the past 31 years,’’ said event co-presenter, “Alias’’ actress Jennifer Garner. “The Student Award executive committee felt with all the quality work they were seeing each year from the schools outside America, it was about time to make to make Foreign Film a regular category.’’

The 2011 winners are:

Alternative category

Gold Medal*: "The Vermeers," Tal S. Shamir, The New School, New York

* Only one medal was awarded in the Alternative category.

Animation category

Gold Medal (tie): "Correspondence," Zach Hyer, Pratt Institute, New York; and

"Dragonboy," Bernardo Warman and Shaofu Zhang, Academy of Art University, California

Bronze Medal: "Defective Detective," Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and

Design, Florida

Documentary category

Gold Medal: "Vera Klement: Blunt Edge," Wonjung Bae, Columbia College Chicago

Silver Medal: "Imaginary Circumstances," Anthony Weeks, Stanford University

Bronze Medal: "Sin Pais (Without Country)," Theo Rigby, Stanford University

Narrative category

Gold Medal: "Thief," Julian Higgins, American Film Institute, California

Silver Medal: "High Maintenance," Shawn Wines, Columbia University

Bronze Medal: "Fatakra," Soham Mehta, University of Texas at Austin

Foreign Student Film category

Gold Medal: "Tuba Atlantic," Hallvar Witzo, The Norwegian Film School, Norway

Silver Medal: "Bekas," Karzan Kader, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden

Bronze Medal: "Raju," Max Zaehle, Hamburg Media School, Germany

While all winners knew they would each receive an award, their placement - Gold, Silver or Bronze - was not revealed until the ceremony. Gold Medal award winners received cash grants of $5,000, Silver Medal award winners received $3,000 and Bronze Medal award winners received $2,000.

The U.S. students first competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region was permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalists in each of the four categories. Academy members then screened the finalists' films and voted to select the winners. The foreign student winners were selected by Academy members at special voting screenings from a pool of 52 entries from 32 countries.

The release adds that past Student Academy Award winners have received 43 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight Oscars. Earlier this year, 2010 Student Academy Award winner Luke Matheny won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film for God of Love. Additionally, fellow 2010 Student Academy Award winner Tanel Toom was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category for The Confession, and John Lasseter, a 1979 and 1980 Student Academy Award winner, was a nominee in the Adapted Screenplay category for Toy Story 3.