The first ever Irish Animation Awards will be presented on Friday, March 13 at the Dingle Skelligs Hotel in Dingle, County Kerry. The inaugural awards from Animation Ireland aim to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding local talent in the animation, VFX and gaming industries. Students will also be included with the Best Student Film category — one of 12 to be judged by professionals including Jackie Edwards (EP Cbeebies Animation), Tim Patterson (VP, Director of Programming, Nickelodeon U.K.), Sarah Muller (Head of Acquisitions, CBBC), Helen McAleer (Chief Global Development Officer, Walker Group). The winners will receive a statuette designed by Eimhin McNamara.
Among the key nominees are:
Best Animated Preschool Series
- Bing (Brown Bag Films / Acamar Films)
- Henry Hugglemonster (Brown Bag Films), Colm Tyrell (Producer), Norton Virgien (Supervising Director)
- Lily’s Driftwood Bay (Sixteen South)
Kids Choice Award for Best Animated Series
- Brain Freeze (Kite Entertainment), Colm Tobin (Producer), Ian Benjamin Kenny (Director)
- I’m a Creepy Crawly (Monster Entertainment) Deirdre Barry (Producer), Andrew Fitzpatrick (Exec Producer), Andrew Crotty (Director/Designer)
- Planet Cosmo (Geronimo Productions)
- Punky (Geronimo Productions), Gerard O’Rourke (Producer)
- Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (Boulder Media), Gillian Comerford, Paul O’Flanagan, Stephen McGann (Animation Directors)
Best Animated Short Film
- Deadly (Kavaleer), Aidan McAteer (Dir.), Shannon George (Prod.)
- Fresh Cut Grass (Boulder Media), Robert Cullen (Dir./Writer)
- MACROPOLIS (Flickerpix), Joel Simon (Dir.), David Cummings (Prod.)
Best Animated International Short Film
- Bait by Dave Winn
- Chasing Sunlight by Alexandria Kwan
- Outlines by Daisy Gould
Visit irishanimationawards.ie for more information and a complete list of the nominees.
