ASIFA India, the prestigious Indian chapter of the globally recognised Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA), announced the WAVES Awards of Excellence 2025, recognising exemplary creativity and innovation in Animation, VFX, and Digital Media. The highly anticipated felicitation ceremony for 10 student winners and 10 professional winners was held on 2 May 2025 by Asifa India and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB).
The Waves Awards of Excellence, organised by Asifa India under the Create in India Challenge, had received 1,331 entries from 28 Indian states and 13 countries. These works highlighted themes such as world peace, sustainable lifestyles, social issues, and cultural heritage.
The evaluation process for the awards was led by an esteemed five member international jury, ensuring global standards in selection. The jury consisted of Asifa International VP and animation educator Dr. Anastasia Dimitra (Greece), Awards of Excellence director and professor Briana Yarhouse (USA), DreamWorks senior creature FX developer Pramita Mukherjee (USA), IDC School of Design professor of practice Dhimant Vyas (India) and Technicolor Games art director B.N. Vichar (India).
The winners of the Waves Awards of Excellence are:
Students Category:
Best Modelling
Hussain Abbas Bohra for Iran 600 BC
Best Texturing
Karan Malghan
Best Lighting
Ajit Tanaji Kinare
Best Rigging
Ankan Samanta
Best Animation
Arjun Kumar
Best DP
Ishwari Tarkar
Best MP
Sameer Parab
Best Motion Graphics
Prajval Nanote
Best Compositing
Sourav Bishwakarma
Best FX
Vijay Vashishta Bangar
Professional Category:
Best Story
Adithi Krishnadas for The Legend of Arana
Best Animation
Swati Agarwal for Chalisa’
Best Modelling and Lighting
Bimal Poddar for IPL openings graphics
Best VFX and Cinematography
Prateek Sethi for Informa Markets in India
Best Film and Best Lighting
Suresh Eriyat for Desi Oon
Best Screenplay
Amit Sonawane for What’s Your Story
Best Ad
Rutvik Dhole for Arwick 2D animated explainer video ad
Best Character
Debopom Chakraboty for Rasmalai
Best Direction
Kartik Mahajan for Phool Dei
Best Texturing
Aditi Dixit
Sourav Bishwakarma, Karan Meghlan and Hussain Bohra emerged as top three, winning gold, silver and bronze respectively in the students category olf the WAVES Awards of Excellence 2025. The Professionals category witnessed Prateek Sethi, Swati Agarwal and Amit Sonawane bagging gold, silver and bronze respectively.