2025 Spring Best of Term Winners Announced

Gnomon is excited to announce the winners of the Spring 2025 Best of Term (BOT) competition, recognizing exceptional student projects from across our full-time programs and individual courses.

This quarterly event highlights outstanding work in categories such as character animation, stylized and fantasy characters, hardsurface modeling, demolition and water effects, and the ever-evolving sub-category disciplines, which this term included the specialized Crowds subset.

This term’s grand prize was awarded to Nicholas Kapoulas for his project in the Effects | Crowds category. Created in Gnomon’s Demo Reel course, taught by Matt Puchala and Stefano Giorgetti, Nicholas’ work recreates a large-scale battle sequence from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King using Houdini and Nuke.

Nicholas shared about his personal connection to the project:

“When I was about six years old, I was at our local mall with my mom and we walked past a Games Workshop diorama of this exact battle. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. I believe that moment fostered a huge part of my creative aspirations, so it felt right to come full circle and take on the challenge of recreating the shot.”

Gnomon Director of Education Max Dayan shared his thoughts on the grand prize-winning project:

“Crowds are one of the most challenging areas of visual effects because they require balancing thousands of moving elements with believability and cohesion. Nicholas’ piece shows a deep understanding of simulation, timing, and composition. From the variation in troop movement to the seamless integration with live-action plates, it’s a demonstration of both artistry and technical mastery.”

This term’s BOT competition featured a wide range of impressive submissions, from first-time entrants to seasoned students refining their final reels.

“Each term, I’m reminded that Best of Term isn’t just about competition. It’s about progress. Every entry represents a step forward for our student artists, whether it’s mastering a new tool, finding a more efficient workflow, or taking on a challenge they’ve never tried before. The Spring 2025 winners reflect the drive and creativity that defines our school community.”

Spring 2025 Best of Term Winners:

GRAND PRIZE — Nicholas Kapoulas — Effects | Crowds — Grand Prize Winner (Concept: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King)

David Kwon — Animation (Character concept: Sungryun Park)

Griffin Gotts-Alvarez — Character | Fantasy (Based off of Igor Sid's Concept Work For Diablo IV's Necromancer Class)

Evgenie Magovski — Character | Hardsurface (Concept: Jiang Geping)

Ryan Donnahoe — Character | Realism (Original Concept)

Ngan Hoang — Character | Stylized (Concept: Mint Jin)

Elizaveta Oskolkova — Character | Animation (Original Concept. Kayla Rig by Josh Sobel Rigs, Marty The Robot Rig by Lucie Martinetto, Butterfly Rig by Steven Thomasson, HDRI by Polyheaven, Road, Lanterns, Volkswagen, Fiat And Other Vehicles From Sketchfab, Front Facades And Plants From Megascans, Music: “Ballerina” From Freesound.Org)

Yanina Perez-Masud — Creature (Concept: Junling Wang)

Gabriel Martinez — Creature | Rigging (Original Concept)

Jeffrey Kressin — Effects | Demolition (Original Concept)

Manav Gala — Effects | Design (Original Concept; Inspired by Hydroman From Spider-man: Far From Home) 

William Lee — Effects | Pyro (Original Concept; Missile Model by 3dxin (Turbosquid), Dmp Elements From Actionvfx And Mattepaint) 

Abhishek Patil — Effects | Water (Original Concept)

Terry Dong — Environment | Exterior (Original Concept)

Karen Su — Environment | Interior (Concept: Francis Goeltner)

Kelly Knowd — Environment | Stylized (Original Concept)

Julian Deview — Hardsurface modeling (Concept: Gatling Santouhei)

Paulina Koubaji — Props & Weapons (Original Concept)

Kate Lummis — Sculpture | Character (Original Concept)

Marcus Lee — Texturing & Shading (Original concept; butterfly concept inspired by Eva Pringault, puppet inspired by the movie 9. Responsible for all aspects except for the character rig created by Jie. Utlization of textures from Poly Haven, Megascan, and ambientCG textures.