It's that time of year again. Film students that have spent countless hours writing pages of scripts, shooting around Happy Valley weather and editing during all-night marathons can turn their hard work into recognition . . . and cash.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has called for entries for the 17th Annual Student Film Awards. Top prizes include $2,000 and a week-long trip to Los Angeles to attend various filmmaking seminars and activities.

Entry deadline is April 2, 1990.

Jeffrey Rush, assistant professor of film / video, said there are a number of advantages to entering the competition, aside from the obvious prizes. One of these advantages is that winning makes entry into graduate schools and job placement easier, he said.

"The biggest advantage is recognition. (Winning an award) singles them out," Rush said.

Monika Young Moulin, vice president of Ruder Finn & Rotman, Inc., the public relations firm of Academy, said the Academy holds the competitions each year in an attempt to foster young talent.

"(The Academy's) purpose is to encourage young talent and support young filmmakers that have had no previous professional experience," Moulin said.

Past winners include Robert Zemeckis, director of both Back to the Future films and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Spike Lee, maker of Do the Right Thing and She's Gotta Have It, Bob Saget, star of the ABC show Full House, and Al Magnoli, former manager of rock star Prince, she said.

Moulin said the judging will be based on four categories. The first category is animation, which scopes a wide range of techniques including pixelation and clay animation. The next two categories are documentaries, which are films based on a real event; and dramatic films, which is a catch-all phrase for any fictitious film. The final category is experimental: it combines different techniques. Each category will have a winner, she said.

Film entries are divided into seven regions, where the judging process begins, Moulin said.

"In each region, a regional coordinator, a faculty member at an accredited film school, supervises regional competition," she said.

Final screenings are held at the regional level, at which finalists are chosen by a jury. These films are then sent to the Academy in Los Angeles for final voting by the 4,700 member Academy, Moulin said.

Ruth Watson, who is the assistant to the coordinator of Region Two, said the number of entries for this region were low in comparison to other parts of the nation. Pennsylvania is included in Region Two. She said about a yearly average of 20 entries is received in the region while the entries from Los Angeles may keep the Academy watching hundreds of films for three or four days.

Watson said Region Two submits a low number of entries because each must be in 16mm or larger film, and no video entries are accepted. Due to the lower costs of video, only four of five schools in the region still use 16mm film, she said.

Region Two entries have captured winning titles; however, Watson said this has not happened in recent years.

"We'd like as many films as possible. . .we're looking forward to having a winner from the area," Watson said.