PROVO — A leap of imagination and a lot of work by dozens of BYU students is paying off big time.

A little film about little lemmings is opening professional doors and reaping notable awards that now include a "student Emmy," presented Sunday in North Hollywood by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation.

"Lemmings," a digitally animated short created by current and former Brigham Young University students, and director Craig Van Dyke received a College Television Award, taking first place in the annual competition's non-traditional animation category.

The project took a year and a half to complete — and many long hours, said Kelli Loosli, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Theater and Media Arts.

"The students got to a point where they were living in the labs," he said. "The janitors started complaining that students had moved into the lab and set up cots and were ordering pizzas. They were all very dedicated."

The film's plot involves the common — but apparently incorrect — belief that lemmings, small furry Arctic rodents that resemble a sort-tailed mouse, willingly leap en masse into water or off precipices to curb their population. The short film focuses on one particular lemming — a book-savvy fellow named Cliff — who tries to persuade others not to take the group leap.

The student Emmy is but one of the project's rewards — seven of the 12 core students who worked on it received job offers with major animation companies in California.

"Two years ago when we got together and talked about doing a group project, we set up goals of what we really wanted to do, how complicated and how much work and time we'd put into it," said R. Brent Adams, associate professor in the School of Technology at Brigham Young University.

Our No. 1 goal was to get a good portfolio where the students could get a job. They worked hard, got jobs — but they keep receiving awards."

The film has been invited to 22 festivals worldwide and has caught the attention of major studios.

In addition, portions of the film, along with works by other first-place College Television Award winners, will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Sunday's College Television Awards ceremony was held at the Leonard H. Goldensen Theatre in North Hollywood and is designed to honor the nation's most outstanding college film and video talent. Tonight "Lemmings" will be screened at the College Television Awards Festival.