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The BAFTA has revealed nominations for its Children and Young People Awards, which are returning for the first time in three years.

The BBC’s “Dodger” and “The Snail and the Whale” lead with three nominations each, followed by two nominations for “The Amazing World of Gumball,” “Jamie Johnson,” “JoJo & Gran Gran” and “Silverpoint.”

The ceremony will take place in London on Nov. 27, where 14 categories will be awarded in recognition of craft, performance, and games. All awards are voted on by BAFTA’s membership of children’s industry professionals. The ceremony will be hosted by TV and radio presenter Lindsey Russell.

Faraz Osman, chair of the BAFTA Children and Young People Committee, said: “It is a real joy to bring together the industry and celebrate the creativity and craft behind its recent output, especially after the pandemic, where children’s programming played a monumental role in family support. Through the...

Netflix, Disney Sony, Cartoon Network Studios, Dean DeBlois and Aardman are reading presentations at France’s Annecy Film Festival — as 2020’s Annecy, even online, once more proves to be the biggest animation fest in the world and the international event with the largest Hollywood and now global platform presence.

Put together, Annecy’s latest big wave of programming announcement suggests that its move online will mean no world premiere of a potential Hollywood blockbuster – such as, in the past, the “Despicable Me” movie series. With more studio involvement most probably still to be announced, many of the good and great of the English-speaking animation world do look more than willing, however, to roll up their sleeves to update accredited festival viewers on upcoming releases such as, of titles now announced, Netflix’s “Wendell & Wild” and Sony Pictures Animation’s “Connected.”

Netflix

A masterclass between stop-motion luminary Henry Selick and composer...

BAFTA has announced the winners of this year’s British Academy Children’s Awards. There were three first-time winners at the ceremony in London, including Emily Burnett who won the BAFTA for Performer for her role in The Dumping Ground; Lindsey Russell for Presenter for Blue Peter; and Bella Ramsay for her performance in The Worst Witch in the Young Performer category.

Dirk Campbell, also for The Worst Witch, won in the Director category. The coming-of-age film Leaving Care, following two care leavers as they navigate a series of firsts without the help of a family, won two BAFTAs: Content For Change and Teen.

CBeebies won Channel, the seventh time since the category was introduced in 2006.

Horrible Histories won Comedy, the sixth time it has won in this category. The Drama award was won by Creeped Out.

The show that pitches the nation’s pets against each other – Play...

Matchbox Pictures. Nowhere Boys has scored its first nomination for the British Academy Children.s Awards presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The ABC3 teen drama created by Tony Ayres and produced by Beth Frey is in the running for the international award along with Cartoon Network's Clarence and Adventure Time and Disney Xd's Gravity Falls. BBC2/Lion TV.s gruesomely entertaining history show Horrible Histories leads the nominations with nods for comedy and writing for the Magna Carta episode and for Jessica Ransom's portrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots. Peppa Pig received its ninth nomination for pre-school: animation and its fourth in the writer category.

The nominees for best feature are Big Hero 6, Inside Out, Paddington and Shaun the Sheep: The Movie. The awards will be handed out at the Roundhouse, London, on November 22, hosted by actor/comedian/screenwriter Doc Brown. Earlier...

Horrible Histories could be heading to success at this year's British Academy Children's Awards after being nominated in three categories.

The programme leads the nominations with nods in the Comedy and Writing categories, while Jessica Ransom is also nominated in the performer category for her turn as Mary, Queen of Scots.

Elsewhere, The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm is nominated in the Comedy category, while star Harry Hill is also a contender.

Meanwhile, Peppa Pig is up for awards in the Preschool: Animation and Writer categories, while Operation Ouch! is in the running for a Factual award.

Operation Ouch! hosts Drs Alexander and Chris van Tulleken are nominated for Presenter awards, as are Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes of Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up.

Harriet's Army has nominations for Drama and Writer, while The Dumping Ground, Wolfblood and Katie Morag are all up for Drama awards.

All At Sea...

Stars: Dan Russell, Logan Grove, Kwesi Boakye, Teresa Gallagher, Kerry Shale, Kyla Rae Kowalewski, Sandra Dickinson | Directed by Mic Graves | Created by Ben Bocquelet

When I was a kid I was a massive fan of the likes of Beavis and Butthead and Ren & Stimpy – two cartoons that, even though dubbed “cartoons”, were not really suitable for younger kids.The former show pushed the boundaries of acceptability, often using lewd humour to get it’s liberal point across (something which went over my head, I just liked the toilet humour); whilst the latter took the gross-out route: mixing toilet humour and horrible sight gags, at the same time taking satirical pot-shots at various aspects of society.

In the years that followed, the idea of “adult animation” spawned an entire TV channel in the Us, Adult Swim, which in turn gave birth to one of my all-time favourite animated shows, Robot Chicken,...

Cartoon Network has greenlit two additional seasons of animated series The Amazing World Of Gumball, bringing the total order to five seasons. Created by Ben Bocquelet and directed by Mic Graves, Gumball is the first full-length animated series out of Cartoon Network Studio Europe. The series about an amusing blue cat named Gumball and his best buddy Darwin, a pet goldfish, combines 2D and 3D animation in a live-action setting. Season 3 is slated to premiere Thursday on Cartoon Network in the U.S. The series, which has won BAFTA, Annie and International Emmy awards, ranked #1 in its time slot in the U.S. among kids 6-11 and boys 2-11 & 6-11 in Season 2. Internationally, Gumball reached a total of 36.5 million primetime viewers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa between January and March of this year.

Irish animation company Boulder Media were delighted to see The Amazing World of Gumball pick up the Kids Animation Award at Friday’s inaugural International Emmy® Kids Awards. The Dublin company, set up in 2000, was co-producer on the series, which received its international debut in May 2011, and was the first full-length animated series to emerge from Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe. Boulder Media were part of the team who won the Award for their work on Gumball, along with Ben Bocquelet, Mic Graves & Joanna Beresford of Cartoon Network Europe in association with Dandelion Studios & Studio Soi /Cartoon Network UK. The other nominations in this category included Ask Lara (Spain) Digimon Xros Wars - The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time(Japan) and The Jungle Bunch (France). Boulder’s Creative director, Emmy-nominated Robert Cullen, who founded the company in 2000, said, “We're over the moon with the Emmy and are very proud...

I really don't put much stock in the International Animated Film Society's 2013 Annie Awards, which is why I didn't rush to report on their results on Saturday. One year Disney and Pixar boycott the event, feeling there was an unfair advantage paid to larger contributing sponsors, DreamWorks being the primary example. So with such a nasty stench over the event what good does it do to pay it much mind? That said, I'll be brief in mentioning Wreck-It Ralph topped Saturday night's winners with five awards, including Best Animated Picture. The awards have something like a 75% streak when it comes to helping predict the eventual Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature and as the days have gone on, it's looking more and more like Ralph will be this year's winner (see my predictions here). Pixar's Brave, Laika's ParaNorman and DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians each took home two awards in lesser,...

Disney's "Wreck-It-Ralph" was the big winner at the 40th Annie Awards held Saturday taking home the Best Animated Feature award. It is now officially the Oscar frontrunner in the Best Animated Film category.

Here's the complete list of winners/nominees; for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies this season, click here:

Animated Feature

"Brave" . Pixar Animation Studios

"Frankenweenie" . Walt Disney Studios

"Hotel Transylvania" . Sony Pictures Animation

"ParaNorman" . Focus Features

"Rise of the Guardians" . DreamWorks Animation

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" . Aardman Animations

"The Rabbi.s Cat ". Gkids

Winner "Wreck-It Ralph" . Walt Disney Animation Studios

Animated Special Production

"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1" . Warner Bros. Animation

"Before Orel" . Trust . Starburns Industries, Inc.

Winner "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" . Illumination Entertainment

"Disney Tron: Uprising . Beck.s Beginning" . Disney TV Animation

"Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" . DreamWorks Animation

"Justice League: Doom" . Warner Bros. Animation

Animated Short Subject

"Brad and Gary" . Illumination...

I love the art of animation, and it's amazing to see how far things have come and advanced over the years. The industry is changing in terms of technology, but what it all really comes down to is telling good stories. There's been a lot of great animated movies this year, and many of them are up for several awards at the 40th Annual Annie Awards.

Some of the movies nomainated include Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph. Out of those films my favorite is a toss up between Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman, those were two pretty incredible films. I think ParaNorman has the edge though.

Some of the other animated properties nominated are Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Disney Tron: Uprising, Justice League: Doom, Robot Chicken ‘DC Comics Special', South Park ‘Raising the Bar’, and several others.

The International Animated Film Society (Asifa-Hollywood) has announced the nominees for the 40th Annie Awards also known as Animation's Highest Honor. Disney/Pixar led the nominees with "Brave," "Frankenweenie," and "Wreck-It-Ralph" getting Best Picture nods. The 40th Annual Annie Awards will take place on February 2, 2013 at UCLA.s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, California.

And the nominees for the 40th Annual Annie Awards are:

Best Picture nominees:

Brave - Disney/Pixar)

Frankenweenie -The Walt Disney Studios

Hotel Transylvania - Sony Pictures Animation

ParaNorman - Focus Features

Rise of the Guardians - DreamWorks Animation

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Aardman Animations

The Rabbi.s Cat - Gkids

Wreck-It Ralph - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 . Warner Bros. Animation

Best General Audience Animated Television Production

Archer .Space Race, Part 1. . Weissman Markovitz Communications for FX

Bob.S Burgers .Earsy Rider...

Which of 2012′s animated films drew the most applause? According to the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood, the options include Pixar’s Brave, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, and DreamWorks’s Rise of the Guardians. All three — among others — were nominated for animation’s highest honor today when the group named the contenders for its 40th annual Annie Awards. The prizes will be distributed Saturday, Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.

See who else made the cartoon cut with this list of nominees for the Annie Awards’ biggest honors. A full list of nominees can be found at the awards’ website.

Best Animated...

Jennifer Yuh Nelson's "Kung Fu Panda 2" dominated the Annie Awards nominations, but the International Animated Film Society decided to give its highest honor -- the Best Animated Feature award -- to Gore Verbinski's "Rango." Both films are from DreamWorks Animation and they still have to duke it out at the upcoming Oscars in the Best Animated Feature Film category.

Besides the Best Animated trophy, "Rango" also collected awards for Best Editing and Writing. But Nelson, the first woman to direct a feature film animation from a major Hollywood production company, won the Directing in a Feature Production award! Yay! (Check out my interview with Jennifer Yuh Nelson for "Kung Fu Panda 2" right here)

The Annie Awards winners were announced yesterday at the UCLA Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 39th Annual Annie Awards (to see winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies,...

I'm a huge fan of animation, animated films are getting better and better. Not only is the look and animation getting ridiculously awesome, but I find that many of these animated films actually have incredibly good stories. Not all of them are good though, for example, Cars 2 and Rio sucked. It will be interesting to see who ends up taking home the awards this year. Out of the movies on the list that I've seen and liked we have Puss in Boots, Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2. I guess it's no surprises that Kung Fu Panda 2 is leading the nominations with 9. Check out the list and let us know what your favorite animated movies of the year are!

Production Categories

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris – Folimage Arrugas (Wrinkles) - Perro Verde Films, S.L. Arthur Christmas – Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations Cars 2 – Pixar Animation...

"Kung Fu Panda 2" dominated the nominations for the 39th Annual Annie Awards. Given by the International Animated Film Society, the DreamWorks Animation sequel received 12 nods including Best Animated Feature. "Puss in Boots" and "Rango" each took nine noms. Pixar's "Cars 2" received seven nominations, while Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" took eight nods but was oddly missing in the Best Animated Feature category.

Winners of the 2011 Annie Awards will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Here's the complete list of nominees of the 39th Annual Annie Awards:

Production Categories

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris . Folimage

Arrugas (Wrinkles) - Perro Verde Films, S.L.

Arthur Christmas . Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations

Cars 2 . Pixar Animation Studios

Chico & Rita . Chico & Rita Distribution Limited

Kung Fu Panda 2 . DreamWorks Animation

Puss In Boots . DreamWorks Animation

Rango . Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/Gk Films Production

Rio . Blue Sky Studios

Tintin . Amblin Entertainment,...

Dublin-based Boulder Media have joined forces with Dandelion Studios and Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe to produce a full-length animation series commission 'The Amazing World of Gumball'. Boulder will provide their animation expertise and will act as the series' associate-producers. Created by Ben Bocquelet (Hell's Kitchen), who is also the series' executive producer, 'The Amazing World of Gumball' is a 40 x 11 minute comedy series combining 2D and 3D animation with live-action footage and photographic backgrounds. BAFTA winner Mic Graves (The Cantuerbury Tales) is the series' director and Boulder Media's Emmy nominated Robert Cullen (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) is director of animation.