MIAM! distribution was named the winner of the 20th Unifrance TV Export Award for Animation for its preschool series, Edmond and Lucy (S1 52 x 12’), produced by MIAM! animation and commissioned by France Televisions and HR/KiKA. This recognition celebrates the series’ international success and
artistic quality, as well as its innovative approach to sustainability in animation production.
Edmond and Lucy was nominated for the Animation prize alongside two other significant global hits made in France: Gigantosaurus (S2 52 x 11′) from Cyber Group Studios and Molang (S4 52 x 5′) from Millimages.
Presented at the opening of the PROCIREP French Television Producer Awards, of which Unifrance is a partner, these awards recognize the best-selling French audiovisual programs worldwide. See all the winners here.
Animation took wing at the 40th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF40), where Liam LoPinto’s mediation on grief and unlikely friendships The Old Young Crow (U.S.) was named Best of the Fest. The mixed-media short unfolds when a young Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.
Among the other CICFF40 award winners were the following animated titles honored with Jury Awards and Special Prizes:
- Animated Short Film – 1st Prize (OSCAR QUALIFYING) — Lil’ Ruby by Barket Kikd (U.S.)
- Animated Short Film – 2nd Prize — Elegy of Elephant by Sijie Lu (China)
- Animated Feature Film – 1st Prize — A Greyhound of a Girl by Enzo d’Alò (Luxembourg, Italy, Irland, United Kingdom, Latvia, Estonia, Germany)
- Animated Feature Film – 2nd Prize — Kensuke’s Kingdom by Neil Boyle (U.K.)
- Animated Television – 1st Prize — The Sound Collector , RAI Kids (Italy)
- Animated Television – 2nd Prize (TIE) — Chocolat Chaud directed by Evelyne Peter (France)
- Animated Television – 2nd Prize (TIE) — Pip and Posy “Hide No Seek” dir. by Seán McCormack (U.K.)
- Milos Stehlik Global Impact Award — Boat People by Thao Lam & Kjell Boersma (Canada)
- Best Production for Young Children — Little Fan by Sveta Yuferova & Shad Lee Bradbury (Germany)
- Liv Ullman Peace Prize — Island by Michael Faust (Israel)
- Embrace Award — Aikane by Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson (U.S.)
The nominees for the Kidscreen Awards were also recently announced, ahead of the awards gala set to take place during the 2024 Kidscreen Summit. See all nominees here; the contenders in the Best Animated Series categories are:
Preschool
- Bluey (season 3) – BBC Studios Kids & Family, Ludo Studio, ABC Australia
- Hey Duggee – BBC Studios Kids & Family, Studio AKA, CBeebies
- The Very Small Creatures (season 2) – Aardman Animations, Sky Kids
Kids
- Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight – DreamWorks Animation, Netflix
- Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel
- My Dad the Bounty Hunter – Netflix, Dwarf Animation Studio
Tweens/Teens
- Bob’s Burgers – 20th Television Animation
- Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire – The Walt Disney Company, Triggerfish, Disney+
- The Great North – 20th Television Animation
