Three weeks ago, we said Motionographer’s twentieth anniversary would not be a victory lap. We called it a living celebration. We said the next chapter would not simply be presented to the Motion Design community, it would be shaped with it.
We meant it.
Today, we are opening the doors to The Motion Awards X. And because Motionographer only turns twenty once, and The Motion Awards only turns ten once, we are doing a few things we have never done before.
For One Time Only: 2025 + 2026
For the first time in the history of The Motion Awards, work published in both 2025 and 2026 can enter the same edition. A one-time 20th anniversary exception.
That project you released last year and never submitted? It belongs here. That piece you shipped last month? It belongs here too. That beautiful holiday project launching on December 23? You still have time.
There is one rule: work entered in The Motion Awards X cannot be entered again in a future edition. This is one window across two years of work. One snapshot of where Motion Design has been, where it is, and where it may be going.
Motionographer turns twenty once. The Motion Awards turns ten once. So, just this once, we are breaking our own rules.
And It Is Our Birthday, So We Brought a Gift
Every submission entered through September 30 includes one additional submission, free. Automatically. Enter one, get another one. Enter ten, get ten more. Enter one hundred and, yes, you get another one hundred.
No code. No application. No secret handshake. The birthday gift is applied automatically at checkout.
And students, this belongs to you too. Your categories keep the student rate, and the birthday gift works exactly the same way. Your generation is the reason the next twenty years exist.
Already submitted to The Motion Awards X earlier this year? You are included too. Your bonus is already waiting for you. Check your inbox, and if you cannot find it, email awards@motionographer.com and we will take care of you.
The 1+1 birthday gift ends September 30. After that, it is gone.
Help Us Shape the Jury
When we first opened jury nominations for The Motion Awards X, this was a different edition. The field was smaller. The window was shorter. The Awards themselves were different.
So we are reopening Jury Nominations too. For one final window, the Motion Design community can nominate the people it believes should have a seat at the table. A director. A designer. An animator. A creative director. A producer. A technologist. An educator. A thinker. Someone whose work you respect, whose eye you trust, whose perspective should be part of the conversation.
This is not an election. The most nominations do not win. The community nominates. Motionographer curates the final jury. Because a great jury is not a popularity contest. It is a collection of perspectives, disciplines, generations, geographies, and people capable of recognizing extraordinary work when they see it.
Jury nominations are open through September 30.
Twenty years ago, Motionographer began with a simple impulse: look at this. Share something extraordinary. Put it in front of people. Talk about why it matters. That spirit still sits at the center of what we do, and this year, it reaches deeper into The Motion Awards than ever before.
The Pulse
For the first time in the history of The Motion Awards, the community will have a vote.
Once the Nominees are announced, The Pulse begins. Every nominated project will face a different kind of jury: all of you. The official jury will determine the category Winners. The Motion Design community will determine The Pulse.
It asks a different question. Not simply: what is the best? But: what moved us?
For twenty years, Motionographer has existed because people chose the work that moved them, shared it, argued about it, celebrated it, and helped form the standards of this industry together. The Pulse brings that instinct into The Motion Awards.
The Grand
And after the category Winners have been selected, one final question remains: of everything that won, is there one achievement that rises above the rest?
That is The Grand Award, the highest honor of The Motion Awards. You cannot enter it. You cannot campaign for it. You cannot buy it. You can only earn your way into the conversation by winning. Then the jury decides whether one piece truly stands above the rest.
And if nothing does? The Grand does not have to be awarded. Because the highest honor should actually mean something.
Years from now, we want someone to be able to say: “They won The Grand.” And for everybody in Motion Design to know exactly what that means.
The 20th Anniversary Window Is Open
Submissions to The Motion Awards X are open again, starting today through January 15, 2027. The General rate returns at $398 per submission. Student submissions remain $198.
January 15 is the final submission deadline. When it closes, it closes.
But there is an important distinction: eligible work must have been published or released by December 31, 2026. The year ends on December 31. You then have fifteen days to gather credits, get approvals, finish the case study, chase the producer who disappeared for the holidays, and submit the work.
This Is What We Meant
When we published Motionographer at 20: This Belongs to All of Us, we said this anniversary should be more than a date, a logo, or a look backward. We said the next chapter should create more ways to participate. More voices. More shared ownership. More reasons to gather around the work.
The Motion Awards X is part of that promise. The community can help shape the jury. The community will choose The Pulse. The jury will recognize excellence. The Grand will recognize the extraordinary. And every submission helps keep Motionographer independent, this strange little home for Motion Design, alive and ad-free as it has been since 2006.
Twenty years ago, we could not have imagined what this industry would become. We still cannot imagine what it will become twenty years from now.
Good. That is the point.
So finish that piece. Dust off last year’s best. Call the client. Find the credits. Nominate the person whose eye deserves a seat at the table. Light the candles. Make a wish.
Then submit it.
The Motion Awards X: The 20th Anniversary Window is open.
Eligible work: January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026
1+1 Birthday Gift: through September 30, 2026
Jury Nominations: through September 30, 2026
Final Submission Deadline: January 15, 2027
Twenty years later, this still belongs to all of us. And this is only the opening frame.
P.S. Save the night of September 26. Motionographer’s 20th anniversary celebration is coming, and it lands four days before the birthday gift disappears. Details soon.
Do not miss a single frame of the 20th anniversary. The party, the Nominees, The Pulse, the Winners, all of it lands in your inbox first. Subscribe to the Motionographer newsletter »