The 2nd annual Elan Awards took place at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts this past Friday night.

The event was once again a black-tie gala organized by the Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (CAEAA) – this year hosted by comedian and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

VFS students were not only nominated in every student category – they were the big winners of the night, taking home 4 of the 7 honours for students!

Our grad Elan winners were:

Student Game of the Year: Bloom (Adrian Audet, Brennan Massicotte, Guilherme Ramos, Brian Vidovic, Miko Wilson – Game Design)

Best Original Sound Design: Doug Woods, for Le Building (Sound Design)

Best Student Art Direction – Game Production: Seas of Europa (Todd Agnello, David Bowring, Diego Rodriguez, Ryan Stancl – Game Design)

Best Student Writing for an Animation or Game Production: Lawrence Chung, for Documentary (Classical Animation)

Click on a thumbnail below for photos from the event. Photos by Danny Chan, a Digital Design graduate and current T.A.

On his game design team winning Best Student Art Direction, Todd Agnello says: “The cool thing about this is, we’re actually in the game industry because of the (student) game we’re celebrating. So that’s really awesome.”

Sound winner Doug Woods says: “I think it’s really nice that the CAEAA is recognizing students. A lot of them are sharing the stage with professionals, which says a lot about the quality coming out of VFS.”

Joking about his win for writing, Classical Animation artist Lawrence Chung says: “I really didn’t think I would win. When I looked at the list of the other nominees in my category, all of their title names were at least 3 words longer than mine. So I have no idea how I won.” Getting serious for a second, he adds: “I’m really thankful that I did, though. It was such an awesome experience.”

Adrian Audet, representing the Bloom team, offered: “The members of Bloom are excited and honoured to win this award. It represents a team effort that industry has taken note of. Currently the award is touring the office spaces of each member, so that they can share in this great moment.”

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, as well as the countless VFS graduates and instructors who won in professional-level categories.

VFS Festivals & Awards 2008