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The winners of this year’s “Team Oscar” college contest have been announced. The six filmmakers selected will hand statuettes to celebrity presenters at the Academy Awards after spending a week in Hollywood participating in various industry experiences, including studio tours.
The six winners are Zaineb Abdul-Nabi from the University of Michigan (hometown: Bronx, N.Y.); Tayo Amos from Stanford (hometown: Mountain View, Calif.); Nathan Flanagan-Frankl from Chapman University (hometown: Northbrook, Ill.); Jeanpaul Isaacs from Rutgers (hometown: South Brunswick, N.J.); Bryson Kemp from Muhlenberg College (hometown: North East, Md.); and Mackenna Millet from Pepperdine University (hometown: Laguna Niguel, Calif.).
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The winners were selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Channing Tatum, who announced this year’s winners on Thursday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show; and Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The winners were individually notified by Zadan and Meron before Tatum revealed their names on Ellen.
“We created this contest last year to give students who are passionate about film the opportunity to set their sights on the future,” Zadan and Meron said in a statement. “We received so many inspiring submissions this year that it made for a difficult choice, but the talent and stories of these six winners really represent what Team Oscar is all about and convinced us that they are a perfect fit for the Oscar stage.”
Tatum added: “I was blown away by the quality of the videos the students created, and more importantly, by the visions they represented. It was a tough choice, but I’m proud of the winners we chose and can’t wait to share the Oscars stage with them.”
The winning videos can be viewed on the Academy’s YouTube channel.
In addition to participating in the Oscars telecast, broadcast live on ABC on March 2 and hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, the students will be flown to Los Angeles to participate in a week of “Team Oscar” events, including studio tours, meet-and-greets with filmmakers at Oscar Week events and a visit to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library to see its renowned collections. The winners will also document their experiences using Samsung Galaxy devices provided by the Oscar sponsor. The team’s behind-the-scenes stories will be seen on Oscar.com and Samsung social sites.
The contest, announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Nov. 15 and run through the Academy’s Facebook page, was open to U.S. college students over the age of 18 and required each entrant to make a 60-second video about how they’re going to contribute to the future of film. Submissions also had to include a short essay on a similar topic and were due by Jan. 5.
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