For over twenty-five years, the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center has participated in the preliminary judging for the Student Academy Awards. The Student Academy Awards is a national competition conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Foundation. Each year over 300 college and university film students from all over the United States compete for awards and cash grants, with films being judged in four categories: animation, documentary, narrative and alternative. An outstanding student filmmaker from outside the U. S. is honored each year as well. The presentation ceremony is a popular event that is annually attended by a capacity audience in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater located at its headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. The Academy is the organization famous for the annual Oscar awards. The purpose of the Student Academy Awards competition is to support and encourage filmmakers with no previous professional experience who are enrolled in accredited colleges and universities located throughout the United States. For purposes of this competition, the United States has been divided into three regions, and our region is called Region Two. The winning films are sent on to the Academy to compete against entries from the other the regions in the United States. The final judging for the national winners is done exclusively by members of the Academy, the same body of voters who decide the winners of the annual Oscar awards. Through the Student Academy Awards, the Academy recognizes and encourages this country's most promising new filmmakers. Past winners include Spike Lee, Gary Nadeau, Bob Saget, Trey Parker and Oscar winners John Lasseter and Robert Zemeckis. For more information and to download the entry form visit http://www.oscars.org/saa/2008/index.html.

Hey..

My names Ricky, originally from Hawaii but studying film at Biola University in California,and I too am an aspiring DP. (like a million others)I'm just constantly amazed and captivated by light, and hope to make a career out of that.