Vancouver Film School, a post-secondary entertainment arts institution, and YouTube today announced the results of the Vancouver Film School/ YouTube Scholarship challenge, an international competition that awarded three members of the YouTube community with full scholarships to VFS. Hundreds of aspiring artists entered the contest and, after VFS narrowed the field down to 10 finalists, the YouTube community selected the three winners.

The three winners (listed in no particular order) are Christopher Harrell, Stefan Ramirez Pérez and Jorge R. Canedo Estrada. Harrell of Colorado, US, and Estrada of Monterrey, Mexico, will both receive full-tuition scholarships to attend VFS’s Digital Design program. Pérez, who lives in Bavaria, Germany, will receive a scholarship to study Foundation Visual Art & Design at VFS.

“We’re very excited to welcome these three fine artists to VFS, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll be able to do after their year here,” said Stephen Webster, Director of Marketing at VFS. “I am most grateful to YouTube for providing the platform for these young artists to be heard. The quality displayed in the winning videos, and in all the other submissions, is simply a great testament to the kind of talent that’s out there in the world, just waiting for a place to come alive.”

“Our community responded to VFS’s call with incredible creativity and enthusiasm. It is exciting to see so many promising individuals from all over the world compete for a chance to attend film school,” said Sara Pollack, community manager for film, YouTube. “Thanks to VFS, three previously undiscovered artists will soon be embarking on their dream of becoming professional filmmakers.

The Winners

Christopher Harrell is a 25-year-old graphic designer. He moved around a lot as a child, but recently settled in Colorado. Together with his wife Asia, he works for an international non-profit organization. Over the past years, they have spent time all over the world working on everything from advocacy projects through film and media, to relief and development after natural disasters. His interest in design began out of necessity: orphanages in India don’t have big budgets and need to get the word out about what they do. Chris taught himself the basics of design and grew to love the field. He enjoys creating, and the feeling of making something out of nothing.

Stefan Ramirez Pérez is 19 years old and just graduated from high school. He grew up in a small village in Bavaria, Germany where he still lives with his family. His father is from Spain and he visits his relatives there almost every summer. Stefan started making movies at the age of 14 with his twin brother Benjamin. Experimenting with a digital photo camera, they created their first little video clips and slowly developed their own methods and style of filmmaking. Ever since, Stefan has been passionate about making movies and is constantly working on different projects. Besides filmmaking, his other hobbies include traveling, music, literature and art.

Jorge Rolando Canedo Estrada is 17 years old. He was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia and he now lives in Monterrey, Mexico. His interest in video and animation began in Christmas of 2000, when his father bought him a handy cam, and he made his first stop motion film with his brother. His brother started to make short films, and Jorge continued making stop motion using toys with his friend Paolo Torrico. Since then he’s made multiple short films and animations frame by frame in Flash. Jorge is entirely self-taught, and says that he built his skills using his free time and the “crazy new ideas in his mind.” Besides film, he has a passion for music.