One step in a three-stage contest
Official Selection is Stage 1 of the annual ANIMOTION Awards: the projects judged strong enough, out of that stage's submissions, to continue in the contest. From there, Stage 2 narrows Official Selections down to three Finalists per category, and Stage 3 ranks that edition's Finalists into Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Not a guarantee of an award
Being named an Official Selection means a curator judged a project among the strongest submissions of its stage. It does not promise the project will go on to become a Finalist, or win Gold, Silver or Bronze -- only the strongest projects advance at each stage.
How a project becomes an Official Selection
Official Selection is decided entirely through editorial review, using the same standards described in our Editorial Policy -- craft, storytelling, and originality -- applied by curators across that edition's submissions.