Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 Posted by Jim Thacker

Rookies 2017 rankings reveal the world’s best CG schools


Gnomon’s 2017 student reel. The Hollywood-based school was rated number one in the world for animation in the 2017 rankings compiled by leading international CG student awards scheme The Rookies.


International student awards scheme The Rookies has released its 2017 rankings for the world’s best CG schools, rating the performance of over 600 schools in 80 countries.

The USA’s Gnomon – School of Visual Effects, Games and Animation topped the animation category, while Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg won out in visual effects.

Nine other schools throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia reached the top ten in at least two categories, which also included game design and development, motion graphics and digital illustration.

One of the world’s most comprehensive ranking schemes for CG schools
Since its foundation in 2009, The Rookies – formerly known as the CG Student Awards – has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most prestigious awards schemes for young CG artists.

This year’s awards attracted entries from over 2,700 students worldwide, split between 12 categories.

Of those, The Rookies has posted rankings for the five most popular categories, based on scores awarded by a panel of judges led by Weta Digital senior VFX supervisor and four-time Oscar winner Joe Letteri.

Individual entries were scored on five creative and technical criteria, with the heaviest weighting assigned to employment potential, and a median score calculated for each school with at least four complete entries.

Further bonus points were awarded for each of a school’s students reaching the list of finalists for a category.

“We feel that traditional school rankings [based on] peer and employer reviews and faculty-to-student ratio … are not adequate when ranking the best creative schools,” said Rookies co-founder Andrew McDonald.

“This might work in an industry that follows a more-traditional career path. However, when it comes to technical and creative roles like visual effects, feature animation and games, it’s a lot more complicated.”

Gnomon tops the animation category, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg leads in visual effects
Gnomon – School of Visual Effects, Games and Animation topped the animation rankings, with category winner Allan Bernardo also having studied at the LA-based school.

Gnomon also placed third in the visual effects and game development rankings, and eighth in illustration.

Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg also placed strongly in the categories in which it teaches, topping the visual effects rankings, and placing second in animation.

Belgium’s Howest led the game development rankings, the USA’s Savannah College of Art and Design led in motion graphics, and Australia’s CDW Studios and Flinders University in illustration.

Other colleges to reach the top ten in more than one category include:

You can find a summary of the other winners via the link below, and download the full report – which also includes an explanation of the ranking methodology – by registering your email address.

Read full listings the world’s best CG schools for 2017 on The Rookies website

See the individual winning students in each category


Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon – School of Visual Effects, Games and Animation.