Young Filmmakers Honored With Student Oscars

Eleven college students received cash prizes and trophies Saturday for short films competing in the 35th annual Student Academy Awards.

The gold medal prize for narrative films went to Rajeev Dassani of the University of Southern California for the film "A Day's Work."

The top prize for animation was presented to Nicole Mitchell of the California Institute of the Arts for "Zoologic"; the documentary winner was Laura Waters Hinson of American University for "As We Forgive."

The prizes are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars. Winners get $5,000 for gold medals, $3,000 for silver medals and $2,000 for bronze.

Student awards were presented by Jason Reitman, director of 2007 best-picture nominee "Juno"; cinematographer Caleb Deschanel; Emmy-winning director Todd Holland; and academy president Sid Ganis.

Established in 1972, the Student Academy Awards are intended to support young filmmakers. Past winners include Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, John Lasseter and Trey Parker.

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A complete list of the winners in each category:

Narrative:

_ Gold Medal: "A Day's Work," Rajeev Dassani, University of Southern California.

_ Silver Medal: "The State of Sunshine," Z. Eric Yang, Florida State University.

_ Bronze Medal: "Pitstop," Melanie McGraw, University of Southern California.

Animation:

_ Gold Medal: "Zoologic," Nicole Mitchell, California Institute of the Arts.

_ Silver Medal: "Simulacra," Tatchapon Lertwirojkul, The School of Visual Arts, New York.

_ Bronze Medal: "The Visionary," Evan Mayfield, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida.

Documentary:

_ Gold Medal: "As We Forgive," Laura Waters Hinson, American University, Washington, D.C.

_ Silver Medal: "Unattached," J.J. Adler, Columbia University.

_ Bronze Medal: "If a Body Meet a Body," Brian Davis, University of Southern California.

Alternative:

_ Gold Medal: "Viola: The Traveling Rooms of a Little Giant," Shih-Ting Hung, University of Southern California.

_ Silver Medal: "Circles of Confusion," Phoebe Tooke, San Francisco State University.

Honorary Foreign Film ($1,000 prize):

"On the Line (Auf der Strecke)," Reto Caffi, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany