The Orlando-based school receives one of the world’s largest honors, ranking their work among the best in the industry.
The DAVE School is proud to announce that 11 staffers and one student earned top honors at the 42nd Annual Telly Awards.
Now in its 42nd year, the Telly Awards are a major industry standard award recognizing the finest film and video productions, groundbreaking web commercials, videos and films, and outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs from around the world.
The Telly Awards are the top accolade for video and television production across every screen. The DAVE School competed against more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.
The awards include: a Gold Telly for Creature Feature Drive-In: A VR Experience in the People’s Telly General Immersive and Mixed Reality category and a Bronze Telly or Creature Feature Drive-In: Immersive and Mixed Reality General Virtual Events & Experiences. The DAVE School competed against four other nominees to win the Gold People’s Telly, which was voted on by the public.
The school captured a second bronze for the DAVE School 20th Anniversary Event in the Immersive and Mixed Reality General Virtual Events & Experiences category. The winner was chosen by the Telly Awards Judging Council, made up of over 200 experts from the multiscreen industries including advertising agencies, production companies and major television networks.
DAVE School staffers Jon Gress, Gina Rhodes, Michael Keith, Nick Talotta, John Irizarry, Lauren Holloway, Amy Rasmussen, Jason Embury, Alex Llanos and student Trevor Seits collaborated on the Creature Feature Drive-In, a virtual reality movie experience.
DAVE staffers Jon Gress, Gina Rhodes, Michael Keith, Nick Talotta, John Irizarry, Lauren Holloway, Amy Rasmussen, Jason Embury, Jon Gourley, Alex Llanos, Anthony Marigliano, Michael Young and student Trevor Seits were credited on the DAVE School Anniversary Event, which was live-streamed last November.
“We’re elated with the recognition that DAVE School has received at the 42nd Annual Telly Awards,” said DAVE School Executive Director Gina Rhodes. “We recognize the importance of immersive technologies in our industry and with Engage.io and Unreal Engine as academic partners, we’ve been ahead of the curve in bringing new experiences to our student body. Students will soon have the opportunity to explore these platforms with our award-winning faculty in our new 18-month Virtual Production Diploma program debuting in late July.”
The Telly winners worked around limitations and restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by working remotely in teams separated by quarantines and lockdowns. This year, new categories like Remote Production and Virtual Events & Experiences honored their extraordinary work.
“This year’s submissions doubled down on what we already know about the industry,” said Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje. “Creativity cannot be stopped. Collaboration will always prevail. New ideas and stories will always find a way to break through to an audience.”
About The DAVE School
The DAVE School was founded on June 8, 2000 by two Industry executives looking to create #CareerReady artists with a practical animation school. Today, The DAVE School offers specialized training in Visual Effects and Game Production with extensive practice under industry level supervision. Located on the backlot of Universal Studios Florida®, The DAVE School has an 18,000 square foot facility that includes learning and interactive labs, a dedicated Virtual and Real-Time production stage, a Vicon motion capture system, 3D printing and VR/AR labs and secure student access 7 days a week. The DAVE School is an academic unit of NUC University (NUC), which is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000) www.msche.org. NUC’s NUC University – IBC Technical Division (NUC-IBC), Florida Technical College (FTC), and The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School (The DAVE School) are included in this accreditation. The MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).