Students from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia Michelle Cheng (Film/Video BFA 2024) and Maggie McKelvey (Film/Video BFA 2025) are among the 15 recipients of the 2022-2023 Women in Animation Scholarship, which annually recognizes promising student animators from around the world.

This year’s Women in Animation Scholarship winners were selected from 192 applications from students representing 74 schools. The 2022-2023 awards come from a scholarship pool totaling $24,500, featuring professional workshops, equipment, software packages and tutoring opportunities.

This year’s sponsors and supporters include Animation Focus, Animation Mentor, ArtStation, Autodesk, Foundry, LAIKA, Toon Boom, Wacom, WIA Bay Area Chapter, WIA Montreal Chapter and YellowBrick Learning.

Cheng, a current student in the Character Animation Program, is a Toronto- and Los Angeles-based artist “particularly interested in creating work at the intersection of animation and education, often taking inspiration from literature, history and mythology.” Her BFA2 film “Birdsong,” based on American field biologist John Sincock’s encounters with the now-extinct Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, aired as part of KCET’s 2022 Fine Cut Festival and is nominated for Best Student Film at the upcoming 50th annual Annie Awards.

McKelvey, a BFA candidate in the Experimental Animation Program, explores themes of home and “connection to the self and world around you” through their films. Among previous distinctions are the Directors Choice Award at the 2020 WESTFLIX Student Film Festival for the mixed media short “Who Am I?,” and as an animation finalist for the OC Register’s 2020 Artist of the Year.

Four additional CalArtians were also recognized among the 25 honorable mentions:

Torianna Jacque (Film/Video BFA 2024)

Monica Miranda Morales Rosales (Film/Video MFA 2024)

Sung Eun (Grace) Park (Film/Video BFA 2025)

Rebecca Payne (Film/Video BFA 2023)

See the full list of the 2023 scholarship recipients at Women in Animation’s official site.