Currently in its 15th year, the form·Z Joint Study Program involves more than 250 Universities and some high schools worldwide. This is a program through which AutoDesSys Inc. supports and subsidizes the learning of the new digital tools - 3D in particular. At the end of each academic year AutoDesSys collects projects that were created through this program and publishes the annual form·Z Joint Study Report. This has evolved into an event that documents the development and progress, as well as the excitement generated by computer aided design and 3D modeling education in institutions of higher learning. One of the traditions the program and its report have established is the presentation of annual awards for the exceptional work of deserving students. This year six awards of distinction and eight honorable mentions have been granted.
The nominated projects were divided in six categories: Architectural Design, Interior Design, Fabrication, Product and Industrial Design, Visualization/Illustration, and Animations.

All Awards of Distinction received a form·Z RenderZone Plus license with one year technical support and updates. The winners of Awards of Distinction were invited, expense paid, to attend ACADIA 2007, where all the awards were officially announced. In addition, AutoDesSys will wave the processing costs of a 10-seat JS license for the school they attend, the next academic year. Honorable Mentions receive diplomas acknowledging the award and a one year user license.



The process: The projects of all the nominees were sent to the jurors as Acrobat documents on DVDs. Names and school affiliations were not included. The jurors returned their selections for the six awards and grades (0 to 10) for each of the other projects. Selection of a project for an award was considered equivalent to a grade of 15. The grades were averaged and the one project from each category receiving the highest grade was selected for the award. Projects receiving an average grade of 9 or higher were selected for the honorable mentions. The jury was also asked to comment on why they selected these particular projects. Their comments are included with the displays of the award of distinction and honorable mention winning projects.