Award Categories

Motion Design isn't just a category. It's a discipline unto itself.

While other awards treat Motion Design as a single line item, we see it for what it truly is. A community, an industry, and a craft that is constantly evolving. These are the disciplines we celebrate.

15 disciplines · 39 categories
AI
2 categories +
100%
For works that have used AI only partially in the visual process for their creation and production. This category recognizes projects where AI serves as one tool among many in the creative workflow.
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Tool
For works that have used AI throughout the entire visual process for their creation and production. This category recognizes projects where AI is the primary creative engine, not just a supporting tool.
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Commercial
2 categories +
Campaign
For multi-piece motion campaigns created for a brand, product, or service. Whether broadcast, digital, or social, this category celebrates the cohesive power of Motion Design across a full campaign strategy.
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Single Spot
For a single motion piece created to promote a brand, product, or service. This is the purest form of commercial Motion Design — one film, one idea, executed with precision.
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Documentary
2 categories +
Film Graphics
For Motion Design sequences embedded within feature films — animated segments, visual effects sequences, title treatments, and any motion work that supports cinematic narrative at feature length.
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Title Sequence
For the opening title sequences of television programs and streaming series. The art of the opening moment — where music, motion, and design conspire to define a world.
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Events
2 categories +
Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence of a live event, award show, or ceremony.
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Live Event Graphics
A system of motion graphic elements presented within the context of an event (e.g. award show, concert, sporting event, news event)
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Feature Film
2 categories +
Film Graphics
Motion Design and visual elements used within a feature film to support storytelling.
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Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence of a feature film.
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Gaming
2 categories +
Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence, cinematic intro, or credits of a video game.
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Gaming Promo
For motion pieces created to promote video games — trailers, launch films, brand spots, or any motion work that positions a game in the cultural conversation.
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Infographics
2 categories +
Commercial
For student-created motion pieces in the commercial tradition — brand films, advertising, and promotional work produced as part of a school or university program.
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Social Good
For motion infographics created in service of a social cause, nonprofit, public health initiative, or civic purpose. Where design meets mission.
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Interactive / Experiential
3 categories +
Installation / Experiential
For motion works created for physical or digital installations — permanent, temporary, gallery-based, or site-specific. Motion Design as architecture. Motion Design as experience.
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UI / UX
Motion Design in the context of a user interface for a game, website or application
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AR / VR
For augmented and virtual reality experiences that push Motion Design into three-dimensional space and time. Work that doesn't just move — it surrounds.
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News
3 categories +
Graphic Package
For the broadcast graphics systems that define how sports are presented on air — scorebugs, transitions, brand systems, and full graphic suites for sports programming.
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Promo
A single spot created to promote a sports program for television or streaming — where Motion Design matches the energy of the game itself.
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Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence of a news program.
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Open Format
3 categories +
Music Video
For motion works created for musical artists. From mainstream pop to experimental electronic, this category honors the craft of visualizing sound.
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Short Film
For animated or motion-centric short films created as independent artistic works. No client. No brief. Just pure vision.
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Experimental
For motion works that resist category — abstract, conceptual, or formally innovative work that expands what Motion Design can be. If it doesn't fit anywhere else, it belongs
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Rainbow Award
1 category +
Rainbow Award
The Rainbow Award celebrates Motion Design work created by or for the LGBTQ+ community — honoring stories, voices, and visions that expand what our industry looks and sounds like. Open to any discipline.
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Sound
2 categories +
Music Composition
For original music composed specifically for a motion work. The score that elevates the image, the melody that outlasts the frame.
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Sound Design
For the art of building a sonic world — sound effects, audio branding, acoustic identity, and the crafted soundscapes that make motion work feel alive.
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Sports
3 categories +
Graphic Package
A system of motion graphic elements intended to brand and present information within a sports program or broadcast.
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Promo
A single promotional spot featuring Motion Design created to promote a sports program or event.
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Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence of a sports program or event broadcast.
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Student
5 categories +
Commercial
A student-created commercial or campaign prominently featuring Motion Design.
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Interactive / Experiential
For student-created interactive motion works, installations, AR/VR, experiences, and any work that invites audience participation.
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Open Format
For student-created experimental, personal, and formally inventive works. The most open category in the student track — for the work that doesn't fit anywhere else.
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Title Sequence
A student-created title sequence for any medium.
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Infographic
For student-created data visualization and infographic motion work. Information design meets Motion Design at the student level.
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TV / Streaming
5 categories +
ID Campaign
A series of identification spots crafted for a television or streaming channel — built to brand a world in seconds.
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Network Branding
A cohesive system of Motion Design elements built to brand an entire television or streaming channel — from idents to interstitials, every frame in service of a world.
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Show Graphics Package
For the full graphic identity of a television or streaming program — the complete visual language of lower thirds, bumpers, transitions, and system design that defines how a show looks on screen.
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Show Promo
A single spot created to promote a television or streaming show — where Motion Design is the star, not the afterthought.
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Title Sequence
The opening or closing title sequence of a television or streaming show.
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Special & Honorary Awards
Jury-selected. Not entered. Cannot be purchased.
✦
Grand Jury Award
The highest honor The Motion Awards can bestow. Awarded by unanimous jury vote to a singular achievement in Motion Design. Not awarded every year.
New · TMA X
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The Pulse
The work the jury can't stop talking about. Each juror names one work from across all categories. The most nominated wins. Always awarded.
New · TMA X
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Honorary Pick
Awarded at the jury's discretion to a work of exceptional merit that didn't win its category but deserves recognition. A gesture of respect from the field.
Since 2017
The Motion Awards X

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