The Happy Valley Animation Festival (HVAF) is a juried international animation competition held at the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania – the area known as Happy Valley. It accepts work from students as well as early-career and professional artists, designers and filmmakers, and runs separate open and student categories. Alongside animated short films, the festival gives a place to experimental animation, animated media and motion design – motion graphics, music videos, visual effects and interactive work – and animated documentary.
Award winners and official selections are shown at free public screenings and exhibitions on the University Park campus, including the HUB Flex Theatre and the Palmer Museum of Art. The festival first took place in 2021 and is supported by the Digital Arts and Media Design Program (DART) and the School of Visual Arts at Penn State. The 2026 edition, the sixth, runs 26–28 March 2026.
Awards and prizes
Laurel recognition is awarded to the winner, finalists and honourable mentions in each category:
- Animated Short Films Under 4 Minutes (open and student categories) – best style, creativity and content in animated shorts under 4 minutes.
- Animated Short Films (open and student categories) – best style, creativity and content in animated shorts over 4 minutes.
- Animated Media & Motion Design (open and student categories) – motion graphics, music videos, commercials, TV/film, visual effects and related CG and animation-intensive media works.
- Experimental Animation (open category).
- Animated Documentary (open category) – best style, creativity, subject and storytelling approach.
Festival rules
To qualify for HVAF, a submission should meet the following requirements:
- The film meets the type, genre and running time requirements of its category.
- Up to two submissions per director, artist, designer or collaborative team per category.
- Submitters must hold all copyrights and permissions for the work, including music, sound effects, product placement and actor or model releases; works without these rights cannot be screened or exhibited.
- Human creativity should remain central to the work; only minimal use of AI is permitted, and the extent and nature of any AI tools used must be disclosed.
- Works of any completion date may be submitted; those completed within the past two years receive priority.
- Each work is entered into a single category; the festival may reassign a work to another category.
- By submitting, the entrant confirms the right to submit the work and authorises its screening and exhibition at HVAF events.
There is no entry fee. Submissions are accepted via FilmFreeway and Festhome.
