ACADEMY REVEALS 2026 STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD® WINNERS
STUDENT ACADEMY AWARDS CEREMONY TO BE HELD FOR
THE FIRST TIME AT THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (TIFF)
ALL WINNING FILMS NOW ELIGIBLE FOR 99TH OSCARS®
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted 16 students as winners of the 53rd Student Academy Awards® competition. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received 2,972 entries from 894 colleges and universities worldwide. The 2026 winners join the ranks of such past Student Academy Award® winners as Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Spike Lee, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis.
The presentation ceremony for the annual international student film awards will be held at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) inside TIFF Lightbox at Reitman Square on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 6pm ET, in partnership with Rolex.
The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):
Alternative/Experimental
Lei He, “Drifting,” Duke University, United States
Viktorie Štěpánová, “Volklore,” Filmová a Televizní Fakulta Akademie Múzických Umění v Praze (FAMU), Czech Republic
Nina Broers, “Where Is My Sex Drive?” St. Joost School of Art & Design, Netherlands
Animation
Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro & Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, “COWS,” École Supérieure de Métiers Artistiques (ESMA), France
Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma & Yulin Yue, “Gauze,” Gobelins, France
Matthias Strasser, “The Panic Inside,” Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Documentary
Arjun Fischer, “Artificial Love,” University of Southern California, United States
Jason Elliott, “I Want to Live,” National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
Lara Dihmis, “The Last People of Petra,” New York University, United States
Narrative
Stanzin Jigmet, “The Dragon Letter,” Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC), Spain
Leon Korzyński, “Kamathipura Express,” Warsaw Film School, Poland
Antoine Boulanger, “The Pichenotte,” Concordia University, Canada
First-time honors go to students from Concordia University, Duke University, École Supérieure de Métiers Artistiques (ESMA), Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC), St. Joost School of Art and Design and Warsaw Film School.
Gold, silver and bronze placements in the four award categories will be announced at the ceremony. In addition, winners will have a robust weekend of education programing, networking opportunities and exclusive access to Academy members to support their career advancement.
All Student Academy Award-winning films will be eligible to compete for the 99th Oscars® in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Film category. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 70 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared 15 awards.
Rolex is supporting the Student Academy Awards through its partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, reflecting its ongoing commitment to fostering excellence, achievement and the transfer of cinematic knowledge to the next generation.
The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the film industry to showcase their work.
# # #
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world's premier film organization and is home to a global membership of more than 11,000 of the most accomplished film industry artists and leaders. The Academy connects global audiences – its members, the film industry, and film fans – through their shared passion for making and watching films. The Academy does this by recognizing and celebrating the arts and sciences of moviemaking through renowned awards for cinematic achievement, including the Oscars®, the Governors Awards, and the Scientific and Technical Awards. The Academy’s affiliated charitable organization, the Academy Foundation, serves a public benefit through its robust educational, preservation and cultural activities. This includes the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the world's largest global film museum, the Academy Collection, the largest film-related collection in the world, and talent development programs for emerging artists. Year-round, the Academy creates opportunities for all communities to engage with the film world.
ABOUT ROLEX AND CINEMA
Rolex celebrates human achievement as a journey marked by milestones, emotions and defining moments. For more than half a century, the brand has partnered some of the world’s most talented artists and leading cultural institutions to promote excellence and the transmission of artistic heritage, creating a link between the past, present and future.
Through the Perpetual Arts Initiative, a broad portfolio of arts that extends through architecture, cinema, dance, music, literature, theatre and visual arts, the brand confirms its long-term commitment to global culture.
The company has had close ties with the film industry for decades, its watches playing a role in numerous films, including Oscar®-winning masterpieces. Since 2017, Rolex has supported the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, serving as Proud Sponsor of the Oscars®, hosting the event’s Greenroom, as well as supporting the Governors Awards, which recognize lifetime achievement and humanitarian efforts in the film industry. Rolex also sponsors Film at Lincoln Center as Official Partner and Exclusive Timepiece.
The company promotes achievement through Testimonees such as James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Zendaya, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Martin Scorsese, Ava DuVernay and Jia Zhang-Ke. It also assists in the preservation of film history for future generations as a Founding Supporter of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, as a partner of The Film Foundation and through its support to the National Film and Television School in the UK.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ROLEX AND CINEMA, GO TO
https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetuating-arts-and-culture/rolex-and-cinema/rolex-and-cinema-2026
FOLLOW THE ACADEMY
www.oscars.org
www.facebook.com/TheAcademy
www.youtube.com/Oscars
www.instagram.com/TheAcademy
www.threads.net/@theacademy
www.tiktok.com/@Oscars
www.x.com/TheAcademy