The University of Western Australia’s active presence in Second Life continues with a vengeance. I was lucky enough to be asked to be on the judging panel for the MachinimUWA III: Journeys competition. The panel this time includes director Peter Greenaway and you can view the full list of judges at the bottom of this post.

Fifty pieces of machinima were submitted, with the only requirement being that they featured the UWA’s Winthrop Clock Tower at the beginning or end of the piece. One notable absence was a machinima from an Australian entrant: are we that bereft of machinima makers?

Each judge was required to choose ten favourites from the fifty entries. For what it’s worth, here are the ten I chose:

LASLOPANTOMIK YAO (Barcelona, Spain) – Beginning of Knowledge and of Sorrow

SODA LEMONDROP (Monterey, California, USA) – The Journey

TUTSY NAVARATHNA (Frenchman in Pondicherry, India) – Journey into the Metaverse

HYPATIA PICKENS (Rochester, New York, USA) – KAPHD

ERIC BOCCARA (Velp, Netherlands) – Juroney

BRACLO EBER (South Africa) – Journey to the Top

FUSCHIA NIGHTFIRE (Dorset, UK) – Take the Road Less Travelled

HUGO KRELL (Madrid, Spain) & Soriana Breda (Soria, Spain) – Proyecto XXY

Proyecto XXY from Soriana Breda on Vimeo.

OONA EIREN (London, UK) – Onward & Upward

Onward And Upward from oona Eiren on Vimeo.

VERUCA VANDYKE (Arkansas, USA) – Escape

You can view all 50 over at the UWA in SL blog

If I had to pick an overall favourite it’s hard to go past Eric Boccara’s Juroney. Congratulation to the eventual winners, which will be announced on the 22nd May at 6am SL time. Also, much kudos (again) to the UWA team who continue to show their dynamism and passion for virtual worlds creativity.

List of judges:

JUDGES
1. Peter Greenaway (RL) – Acclaimed Director
2. Professor Ted Snell (RL) – Director, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western Australia
3. Jayjay Zifanwe (SL) – Owner of The University of Western Australia (SL), Creator & co-host of the UWA 3D Art& Design Challenge
4. Yesikita Coppola (SL) – Official Machinimatographer for UWA 2011
5. Laurina Hawks (SL) – Joint Reigning UWA MachinimUWA Champion
6. Raphaella Nightfire (SL) – Snr Writer Best of SL Magazine, Owner Sanctorum Gallery (SL)
7. FreeWee Ling (SL) – Curator, UWA 3D Open Art Challenge
8. LaPiscean Liberty (SL) – CEO AviewTV and UWA Media Advisor
9. Nazz Lane (SL) – Journalist and Author
10. Rowan Derryth (SL) – Art & Design Historian; Writer for Prim Perfect Publications
11. Apollo Manga (SL) – examiner.com Writer & Novelist
12. Dr. Phylis Johnson (RL) – Media Professor, Southern Illinois Uinversity, Author – Machinima: Aesthetics and Practice (a.k.a, Sonicity Fitzroy, SL Virtual Journalist)
13. Lowell Cremorne (SL), Owner & Editor-In-Chief, The Metaverse Journal
14. Mal Burns (SL), Metaverse News Aggregator and Broadcaster
15. Paisley Beebe (SL), CEO of Perfect World Productions TV
16. Flimsey Freenote – CEO of Metamix TV (Mixed Reality Television)
17. Rhett Linden – Linden Labs
18. Bradley Dorchester – Joint Reigning UWA MachinimUWA Champion
19. Dousa Dragonash (SL) – COO Metaverse Television
20. Cristina García-Lasuén (RL) Aino Baar (SL) International Curator, Art Writer, Founder & Owner of Open This End group
21. White Lebed (SL) – Former Lead of Burning Life Art Department, Director of Special Projects @ UWA