PROVO — For the second year in a row, Brigham Young University's budding animation program has won a "student Emmy."
And this time the students nabbed two of the awards.
The student-made short film "Faux Paw: Adventures in the Internet" earned first place in traditional animation from the College Television Awards.
The annual competition is sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which awards Emmys for television's top shows.
The list of winners in the student competition was posted this week.
Another student short, "Pet Shop," took third place in nontraditional animation, or CGI, which stands for computer-generated imagery.
BYU started its animation program just four years ago but already boasts three student Emmys and a student Academy Award. The student-produced short "Lemmings" won the other student Emmy and a bronze medal at the student Academy Awards last year.
"They have really come a long way quickly," said Price Hicks, director of education programs and services for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "I visited BYU last fall, and I was really impressed with their growth and dedication to the art of animation.
"They've really done some beautiful work."
The honors have opened doors for BYU graduates, faculty adviser Brent Adams said.
"The major studios watch for these awards," he said. "Their recruiters are calling and asking when they can meet with our students. That's not something that happens to most animation programs in the United States."
Hicks said the awards and BYU's dedication to the art of animation also will help lure top students.
"I would think that they can now be looked at as a leading school in animation production," she said. "When students think about studying animation in a film school at a U.S. college or university, Brigham Young will be near the top of the list."
Winning Emmys in both animation categories showcases the BYU animation program's versatility, said Chad Erekson, a BYU senior and the director and co-producer of "Faux Paws."
"You can see how the program is improving," Erekson said. "It's building. It shows that we have a wider scope. Our program doesn't just have a 3-D focus — we're working on developing the whole animation art."
The awards will be presented to Erekson and Trent Halvorsen, who directed "Pet Shot," before they graduate from BYU, at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles on March 14.
Entries in this year's contest must have been produced for college course credit between September 2003 and Dec. 15, 2004. First-place winners receive $2,000, and third place earns a $500 cash award.
"This award is overwhelming," Erekson said. "It's like my career is heading on a freight train, and I'm along for the ride."
Halvorsen works for Avalanche Software, a Utah company, where he is developing a video game for the movie "Chicken Little" using skills similar to those he employed on "Pet Shop."
Other graduates of the animation program have worked on films like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Faux Paw" is the brainchild of Jacalyn Leavitt, who used the character in children's books on safety while her husband, Mike, was the governor of Utah. The Leavitts cooperated with BYU on the film, in which Faux Paw the Techno Cat works with McGruff the Crime Dog to teach Internet safety habits.
The film will be used in a campaign by the National Crime Prevention Council, said Kelly Loosli, a professor in BYU's department of theater and media arts and an adviser on the film.
"Our students' efforts have allowed the Leavitts' vision to be articulated at a level that attracted support," Loosli added. " 'Faux Paw' is a reflection of the high-quality work our students have created."
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com