The winners of the 11th annual Rookie Awards have been announced! We’re excited to reveal all the talented young creatives who turned their Unreal Engine skills into award-winning projects.
The contest
The Rookie Awards is a digital art contest open to creatives in almost any medium—from visual effects and games all the way to VR and 3D visualization. The one catch? Only amateur artists are allowed to enter.This makes The Rookie Awards an excellent way for students to break into the industry, or for hobbyists to turn their passion into a career.
The results
This year, 4,104 entries were submitted from 98 countries and 568 schools: exceeding the numbers from last year across the board.
Winners who used Unreal Engine in their projects also exceeded last year. All seven main ‘Game Development Rookie of the Year’ category winners; five ‘Game of the Year’ winners in Console & PC and Immersive Media games; as well as the ‘Rookie of the Year’ winner in Architectural Visualization were all created in Unreal Engine.
In the ‘Young Guns’ specialty category for artists aged 13-17, the winning project was also created in Unreal Engine. Nine students also won career opportunities with us and Ninja Theory. Check out all of this year’s winning projects in detail below!
Game of the Year—Console & PC: Winner 2021
Soul Weaver | New3dge | France
Soul Weaver is a final year graduation project produced over the course of 11 months at New3dge. Inspired by indie titles like Little Nightmare, Inside, and ECHO, this third-person platform game follows a small creature who tries to retake control of its own existence.
Source: Unreal Engine Blog