Image credit: From left to right: Valérie Bernard, Veronica Orvalho, and Nora Wixom
In this episode of SIGGRAPH Spotlight, SIGGRAPH 2026 Production Sessions Chair Valérie Bernard chats with General Submissions Chair Veronica Orvalho and Courses Co-Chair Nora Wixom for a candid, all-angle look at the SIGGRAPH submission process. They break down the most common pitfalls that can derail a proposal, offer practical strategies for strengthening your work, and share what really happens behind the scenes during reviews and selection. Whether you’re aiming for Courses, Birds of a Feather, Student Volunteers, or another program, tune in for expert guidance on refining your submissions, leveraging feedback, and getting more involved in the SIGGRAPH community.
Don’t miss a single episode by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Spotify, or SoundCloud. If you like the show, rate and review wherever you listen to help other listeners find us!
About Our Guests
Valérie Bernard leads the animation and rigging R&D team at Netflix Animation Studios. After obtaining master’s degrees in mechanical and digital engineering from Arts et Métiers ParisTech, she started her career in the VFX and animation industry in her hometown of Paris before calling Vancouver home since 2011. She has worked at various studios including Image Engine and Sony Pictures Imageworks, before joining Animal Logic in 2018, now Netflix Animation Studios, and was conference co-chair for DigiPro in 2022 and 2023.
Verónica Orvalho has been a leader in facial technology research within computer graphics and vision, focusing on applications that enhance communication across media. She founded Didimo to create high-fidelity digital humans, revolutionizing how companies engage users in digital worlds. With a Ph.D. in Computer Graphics, Verónica is a professor at Porto University and a TEDx ambassador. She has contributed to SIGGRAPH as a published author, jury member, and reviewer. Verónica established a research lab at Porto University, published work in top conferences, and commercialized IP with Microsoft and Universal Studios. She has also worked at IBM and Ericsson. Verónica mentors future innovators as an EU EIC mentor and was named an EIC Ambassador in 2024. Her entrepreneurial achievements include being recognized as an EY Winning Woman in 2022 and shortlisted for the European Women Innovator award in 2021. She is also a passionate advocate for education and would love to see a world where every child has access to learning.
Nora Wixom (she/her) is a digital creative who seeks to create conscientious, enabling technology and further blur the lines between computation and artistry. Prior to her time in tech, she worked as a Character Technical Director at Industrial Light and Magic, where her credited feature films included “Kong: Skull Island”, “Jurassic World”, and “Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi”. She then leveraged her VFX industry skills to generate datasets that trained computer vision-based machine learning models for the Vision Pro, Apple’s inaugural augmented reality headset. Nora is a passionate advocate for STEM education, dedicated to empowering learners of all ages and experience levels. She has volunteered with organizations like Girls Who Code and the California Academy of Sciences and has guest lectured at institutions such as Columbia and MIT. In addition to her commitment to education, she seeks to deepen her relationship to technology through her digital artistic practice, which centers themes of ownership, authenticity, power dynamics, and representation. Most recently, she has studied at the School for Poetic Computation and was invited to participate in the IAAT artist workshop hosted by Zero1.org in 2022. Currently based in Los Angeles, Nora works as a software engineer at Apple, where she focuses on developing artist tools and applications for the Vision Pro.
