<a href="https://www.ngendo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="">Ng'endo Mukii</a> is an Annie award-winning and British Animation Award nominated film director. She is most well known for ‘Enkai,’ an episode on the Disney+ animated anthology, Kizazi Moto.At the prestigious Design Indaba conference in South Africa, she presented her talk ‘Film Taxidermy and Re-Animation,’ proposing the use of animation as a means of re-humanizing the ‘indigenous’ image; a people whose ‘real’ image is burdened with stereotypes of being the ‘Other.’Ng’endo is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and holds a Master of Arts in Animation from the Royal College of Art in London. She is an alumni of the beautiful Berlinale Talents, the distinguished Urucu Media REALNESS Screenwriter’s Residency (South Africa), and the incredible Goethe Institute BahiaVila Sul artists’ residency (Brazil).Her mixed-media and inter-genre approach to filmmaking, particularly focused on the experiences of African women, gives her an incredibly unique visual language and makes her a preeminent voice in animation.She lives and works in Boston, as a Professor of the Practice at The Museum School (SMFA) at TUFTS University.

Mike Buckland is the Director of Production at Triggerfish Animation and has served on the company’s leadership team since 2006. He has produced award-winning films including Adventures in Zambezia, Khumba, and Seal Team for Netflix.He co-produced the Oscar-nominated Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and several acclaimed Julia Donaldson adaptations for the BBC. More recent credits include Kiya &amp; The Kimoja Heroes for Disney, Supa Team 4 for Netflix, Aau’s Song for Star Wars: Visions Season 2, and Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire for Disney+.His leadership has been instrumental in establishing Triggerfish as Africa’s first truly global animation studio

To be confirmed

Animation Mentor's <a href="https://www.animationmentor.com/animation-program/" target="" rel="" title="">3D Character Animation program</a>&nbsp;and a full scholarship to one 12-week course.Course placement will be determined by our admissions team based on the winner's experience level.Scholarship provided: $2500

1st place

Full scholarship to winner's choice of any one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.animationmentor.com/workshops/" target="" rel="" title="">Animation Mentor 6-Week course</a>&nbsp;or the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yellowbrick.co/animation" target="" rel="" title="">New York University Animation Industry Essentials course</a> Scholarship provided: $900

2nd Price

3rd Price

<ol><li value="1">WIP Screenshots: &nbsp;A minimum of two images showing your progress (e.g., blocking stage and spline stage).</li><li value="2">Turntable Playblast - Showing the animation motion clearly (Optional but recommended) </li><li value="3">Final Animation Video&nbsp;</li></ol>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;- Max 20 seconds&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; - MP4 format&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; - 1080p resolution&nbsp;

Deliverables

Criteria for Submission<ul><li value="1">Must use the official Rafiki rig provided by CGAfrica</li><li value="2">Only Rafiki character allowed</li><li value="3">Use of environments or props are optional</li><li value="4">Use of &nbsp;textures or materials are optional</li><li value="5">Must be original work</li><li value="6">No plagiarism or reused animation clips</li></ul> Process for Submission<ul><li value="1">Visit www.cgafrica.com</li><li value="2"><a href="https://cgafrica.com/login" target="" rel="noreferrer" title="">Login</a> or <a href="https://cgafrica.com/signup" target="" rel="noreferrer" title="">create an account</a> if you don’t have one</li><li value="3">Complete your User Profile</li><li value="4">Then visit the competition page and click on Enter to submit your entry</li></ul>

Submission Guideliness

Entries will be judged by industry professionals using the following weighted criteria<h3 dir="ltr">Performance &amp; Acting (30%)</h3><ul><li value="1">Clarity of emotion</li><li value="2">Expressiveness</li><li value="3">Storytelling through motion</li></ul><h3 dir="ltr">Animation Fundamentals (25%)</h3><ul><li value="1">Timing &amp; spacing</li><li value="2">Weight &amp; balance</li><li value="3">Body mechanics</li></ul><h3 dir="ltr">3. Personality &amp; Character (20%)</h3><ul><li value="1">Faithfulness to Rafiki’s personality</li><li value="2">Charm, humour, wisdom</li></ul>4. Facial Animation (15%)<ul><li value="1">Expression quality</li><li value="2">Eye direction &amp; emotion</li></ul><h3 dir="ltr">5. Creativity &amp; Originality (10%)</h3><ul><li value="1">Unique interpretation</li><li value="2">Memorable performance</li></ul>

Judging Criteria

<a href="https://www.animationmentor.com/" target="" rel="" title="">Animation Mentor</a> offers online a nimation courses taught by a team of over 100 working professionals from Pixar, DreamWorks, Blizzard, Weta Digital, Riot Games and Industrial Light &amp; Magic, to name a few.It all starts with our world-class partnerships with animation professionals, studios, and software developers. These partnerships — along with our dedicated, industry-focused curriculum — help prepare students for a career in the animation industry.Students learn how to thrive in the studio production environment, using our custom interactive online campus in tandem with professional studio workflows.

<a href="https://creatures.africa" target="" rel="" title="">Creatures Animation Studio</a> is a leading award-winning 3D animation and storytelling studio based in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, dedicated to crafting high-quality animated content rooted in African narratives and inspiring values.With a focus on original storytelling that celebrates culture, creativity, and imagination, Creatures has produced acclaimed works such as the animated short A Kalabanda Ate My Homework and continues to expand its universe with series like Kunda &amp; Friends.The studio’s services span 2D and 3D animation production, visual storytelling, and creative media projects, collaborating with notable partners and organizations on diverse visual narratives.

Please note that failure to comply with these terms and conditions may result in disqualification from the challenge and/or the removal of submitted entries.Participants are required to ensure that their design submissions do not infringe upon any existing intellectual property rights. Entries that infringe upon or violate the rights of any third-party intellectual property will be disqualified from the challenge.

General

<ul><li value="1">This challenge is exclusively for individual participants.</li><li value="2">Team submissions will not be accepted or considered eligible for participation.</li><li value="3">Each entry must be the sole work and effort of an individual participant.</li></ul>

Participation as a Team

<ul><li value="1">Artists retain full ownership of their work</li><li value="2">CGAfrica reserves the right to:</li></ul> - Showcase submissions for promotion - Use entries for educational and community purposes<ul><li value="1">No commercial resale without artist consent</li></ul>

Ownership of Submitted Artwork

A service and processing charge of up to 15% applies to all monetary prizesThis covers:<ul><li value="1">Payment processing</li><li value="2">Tax handling</li><li value="3">Platform administration</li></ul>

Service Charge on Competition Prizes

Please note that failure to comply with these terms and conditions may result in disqualification from the challenge and/or the removal of submitted entries.

Endnote

The CGAfrica <a href="https://1drv.ms/u/c/56ec9e8324f932cc/IQAR-is3Jux7R6XydEOuBqe7AVTkUckqhu3S76BVqCUAW7s?e=1GmbAS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="">Rafiki </a>Animation Challenge is a short character performance competition focused on acting through animation.Artists bring Rafiki — a quirky, wise African folklore character — to life using movement, expression, and timing only. <h2 dir="ltr">The Challenge</h2>Animate <a href="https://1drv.ms/u/c/56ec9e8324f932cc/IQAR-is3Jux7R6XydEOuBqe7AVTkUckqhu3S76BVqCUAW7s?e=1GmbAS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="">a fully rigged Rafiki character</a> and show his humour, curiosity, wisdom, and mischief through pure performance.This challenge is about character acting, not technical polish. <h2 dir="ltr">Theme &amp; Story – The Unseen Wonder</h2>Rafiki is moving through an implied space when something small on the ground catches his attention.<ul><li value="1">He stops.</li><li value="2">He investigates.</li><li value="3">His body language shifts from curiosity to fascination.</li></ul>Through subtle movement, facial expression, and timing, Rafiki reacts to a discovery we never see. The animation ends with his response — laughter, awe, or a playful glance to the audience.What he finds is up to you.The story must be told entirely through his acting. <h2 dir="ltr"><a href="https://1drv.ms/u/c/56ec9e8324f932cc/IQAR-is3Jux7R6XydEOuBqe7AVTkUckqhu3S76BVqCUAW7s?e=1GmbAS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="">DOWNLOAD THE RIGGED RAFIKI</a></h2><blockquote dir="ltr">Note that the character is rigged in Blender</blockquote>

Bring Rafiki to Life — 3D Character Animation Challenge

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The CGAfrica Rafiki Animation Challenge is a short character performance competition focused on acting through animation.Artists bring Rafiki — a quirky, wise A

 Bring Rafiki to Life — 3D Character Animation Challenge | Competition

My 20 sec submission for the 2026 Bring Rafiki to Life — 3D Character Animation Challenge, still needs some polish

Rafiki Animation

Rafiki discovers something that smells funny

smelly discovery

This is a 3D animation showing a character called rafiki discovering a new thing


Elly Dan Odindo Rafiki Discovers

Rafiki is moving through an implied space when something small on the ground catches his attention.

He stops.
He investigates.
His body language shifts from curiosity to fascination.
Through subtle movement, facial expression, and timing, Rafiki reacts to a discovery we never see. The animation ends with his response — laughter, awe, or a playful glance to the audience.

Bring Rafiki to Life

Rafiki was going about his business when a cube catches his attention.
He investigated and was taken by aback by it's reaction.
He laughed at his reaction and continued on his journey.

Rafiki

While walking around, Rafiki is attracted to an object. He then stops in order to understand the nature of this object and then goes from incomprehension to joy when he understands 

the Rafiki Walk

Rafiki just playing with our emotions as always, charming trickstar that one.

Cheeky Rafiki

Rafiki was taking a jolly walk one afternoon when suddenly he stumbled on a strange,mysterious looking object with a strange aura around it,he is left with several options on what he should do with it.should he run away,keep it or throw it away?

Adventures of rafiki

Rafiki finds something tiny and insignificant…

bring rafiki to life

On a sunny day, Rafiki was walking in the meadow. Overcome by hunger, he decided to pick a fruit. An unexpected event changed everything.

All Submissions

Rafiki Animation

smelly discovery

Elly Dan Odindo Rafiki Discovers

Bring Rafiki to Life

Rafiki

the Rafiki Walk

Cheeky Rafiki

Adventures of rafiki

bring rafiki to life

The ballad of Rafiki

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