YOUTUBE KIDS ANIMATION
DINGLE STUDENT AWARD
2020 WINNERS

YOUTUBE KIDS ANIMATION DINGLE STUDENT AWARD 2020 WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT CLOSE DOOR EVENT IN JAM MEDIA

Although Animation Dingle 2020 came to a halt when it was decided to cancel the Festival in respect of health and safety and in the wake of COVID-19, the Festival DID make selections and winners were announced.

The Festival was due to run 20-21 March, so it is no surprise that 99% of the work leading up to the Festival was already completed and ready to kick off.  Amongst this was the adjudication process and the selection of winners in a variety of categories. True to the spirit of community that Animation Dingle so prides itself on, a special production and broadcasting of the announcement of the winners was made on Friday 20th March in the offices of JAM Media – this was the date that had been set aside for the YouTube Kids Animation Dingle Awards night in the Dingle Skellig Hotel.  All students who submitted work were encouraged to watch the streaming of the awards announcements in order to celebrate virtually if not in close proximity.  There were over 694 views, with the event earning 2.1K impressions

The YouTube Kids Animation Dingle Student Awards was presented by Alan Shannon and Mark Cumberton of JAM Media. Thank you to all of the colleges who would have made the trip to Dingle and for entering their films for the awards. Films were representative from  IADT Dun Laoghaire, Ballyfermot, Coláiste Dhúlaigh, IT Tralee, Limerick School of Art and Design, Letterkenny IT, University of Ulster, University of Dundee, LIT Clonmel and Athlone IT.

The 2020 YouTube Kids Animation Dingle Student Award winners are as follows:

Sponsored By:

Best Irish Student Short Winner:

The Beekeeper // IADT // Director:  Robyn Conroy

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Best International Student Short Winner:

Shergar // Denmark // Director: Cora McKenna

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Best Director Winner:

Home // University of Ulster // Directors: Méabh Gilheany & Rhea Hanlon

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Best Writer Winner:

How To Rob A Witch // IADT// Director/Writer: Liam Fahy

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Best Design/Art Direction Winner:

Outside The Box // Coláiste Dhúlaigh // Director/Writer: Janet Grainger

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Best Animation Winner:

Fish For Life // Austria // Director: Kerstin Blätterbinder, Lisa Gierlinger, Lukas Mathä, Victoria Wolfersberger

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Best 2D Winner:

How To Rob A Witch // IADT // Director: Liam Fahy

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Best 3D/CG Winner:

Don’t Croak // Ringling College of Art and Design, United States // Director: Daun Kim

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Best Stop Motion Winner:

Daughter // Czech Republic // Director: Daria Kascheeva

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Best Music/Sound Design Winner:

Legend Has It // IADT // Director: Ciara Johnson

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Best Sting Winner:

In Pursuit Of Bigfoot // LYIT // Director: Eoin O’Kane

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Best Irish Professional Short Winner:

An Gadhar Dubh // Paper Panther Productions // Director: Pádraig Fagan

As well as the YouTube Kids Animation Dingle Student Awards, the Festival also runs their annual YAOTY (Young Animator of the Year) competition sponsored by Disney Channels.  The winner of the YAOTY Award was also announced in the broadcast. The three categories of winners of these very prestigious Awards are as follows:

YAOTY winner

Sponsored by Disney Channels.

Life in Plastic by Katie Elger from Colaiste Muire, Ennis

Orion Ross, Vice President, Original Programming Animation, Media Networks Europe & Africa, The Walt Disney Company said “A complete environmental story with an emotional punch”

Silver went to Save Our Souls by Aaron Gillespie, from Summerhill College, Sligo; whilst Bronze went to Starfish by Kellie Flaherty from Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Suir

All 9 finalists will be receiving a gift bag from the Disney Store in the post over the coming weeks.

Animation Dingle are committed to transparency and each year a panel of experts are approached for the adjudication process.  For 2020, Animation Dingle would like to take this opportunity to thank all those judges who gave of their time…

Student Judges:

• Suzanne Kelly – Group Head of Children’s & Young People’s Programming, RTE
• Eimear O’Mahony – Executive Producer, Children’s and Young People’s Programming, RTE
• Louise Bucknole – VP Programming, Viacom International Media Networks Kids, UK & Ireland
• Cecilia Persson – Vice President of Programming and Content Strategy Turner EMEA Kids, Acquisitions and Co-production International

Professional Judges:

• Peter Lord – Co-founder and Creative Director of Aardman Animation
• Darragh O’ Connell – Group Creative Director of Brown Bag Films and 9 Story Media Group
• Nicole Rivera – Vice President of Cartoon Network

Sting Judge

• Chris Dicker – Head of Development at JAM Media

YAOTY Judges

• Shortlisted finalists were selected by Mark Cumberton, COO/Producer JAM Media, Marty Boyland, Lecturer at IT Tralee and Shauna Cullen, JAM Media.
• The final winner was selected by Orion Ross, Vice President, Original Programming Animation, Media Networks Europe & Africa, The Walt Disney Company.

Students awaiting news of the broadcast announcements got to watch a daily upload of the wonderful Animation Dingle Stings on Social Media during the countdown. Thanks to BCFE, IT Tralee and Letterkenny IT for their sting submissions. This year’s theme was In Pursuit!

Animation Dingle were delighted that despite the current coronavirus climate, YouTube Kids held true to their sponsorship promise.

Co-founder and Festival Director of Animation Dingle, Maurice Galway said: “Animation Dingle are delighted to have YouTube Kids as title sponsor to our Student Awards and I want to congratulate every student who entered, was shortlisted and who won an award this year! Viewing all of your work was an absolute pleasure and an honour, thank you!”