"A Daily Struggle" Wins Big at the Southern Shorts Awards Winter 2026

"A Daily Struggle" won Best Animation at the Southern Shorts Awards for Winter 2026, crowning the film with its first laurels of the 2026 film festival tour. The virtual event based in Atlanta, GA featured short films from across the world, and recognized the achievements of cast and crew members.

Individual awards of merit were granted to Kyle J. Schaeffer for Directing, Sound Design, and Production Design. Cory Rosen received awards of merit for Music Composition and Production. Kristina Denver left with awards of merit for her work on Lighting and Textures and Technical Skill. Additional film staff included Pennsylvania College of Art and Design students Gabrielle Villarossa, In-between Animator and Jaileiyah Rodriguez, Graphic Designer.

Watch Kyle and Cory's recorded award acceptance speech (with bloopers!) below, and follow this link to see the complete ceremony. "A Daily Struggle" streamed from Feb 20th to 22nd, 2026 on the Southern Shorts Awards website.

https://youtu.be/QqrDud9o7ww

Everyone at GalaxyHopper Animation sincerely thanks the Southern Shorts Awards for including "A Daily Struggle" at the Winter 2026 awards festival. We hope to see you again in the future!

"A Daily Struggle" earns its first film festival award.