Judges 2015
We are very happy to announce our panel of judges for the inaugural Irish Animation Awards.We are extremely grateful to all of our judges who have generously agreed to give of their time and experience to the awards. Each category has been appointed two judges that work together to decide the shortlist and choose the final winner.We have also appointed two Chairs to the judging panel.
Chairs - Jackie Edwards and Helen McAleer
Jackie Edwards is the Executive Producer of Cbeebies Animation and Acquisitions working on animated series such as Tree Fu Tom, Driver Dan’s Story Train, What’s the Big Idea, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion and Rastamouse.Helen McAleer is the Chief Global Development Officer for Walker Group. Helen founded Walker Productions to develop Walker owned content across various media platforms.
1. Best Animated Preschool Series - Jamie Badminton and Karen Davidsen
Jamie Badminton is a Co-Founder and Creative Director at Karrot Entertainment. He was the Producer of the BAFTA and Prix Jeunesse nominated Sarah and Duck. Karrot is currently focussing on developing further animated series and have produced a second series of Sarah and Duck.Karen Davidsen has over 20 years' experience in the industry and is currently the Director of Production for Global Content at HIT Entertainment. Karen was previously Director for Production and Original Programming for Walt Disney Company
2. Kid's Choice Award
This winner of this award will be picked by the pupils of Scoil Iognáid Rís, the local national school in Dingle.
3. Best Animated Short Film - Sarah Muller and Tim Patterson
Sarah is currently Head of CBBC Acquisitions and Drama Development. Previously she was the Managing Director of Elephant Productions specialising in development and production of animation.Tim Patterson is VP, Director of Programming at Nickelodeon UK with over 30 years experience in the broadcast industry
4. Best Animated International Short Film- Howard Litton and Michiel Snijders
Howard is a Children's Media Consultant and Executive Producer. He was Managing Director of Nickelodeon for 15 years and during his tenure Nick UK won 15 BAFTA awards and was named Kid's Channel of the Year in 2009.Michiel is a Producer and co-owner of il Luster Productions. He has produced over 40 short animated films and has moved into producing animated series and features.
5. Best Writer for Preschool Animation - Mellie Buse and Danny Stack
Mellie is a Producer, script writer, editor and consultant. She co-founded Adastra Creative which has produced BAFTA nominated Grandpa In My Pocket. Previously Mellie has been script editor on Charlie & Lola and head writer and creative producer on The Hoobs.Danny has been a scriptwriter and consultant for over ten years. He has extensive scriptwriting credits for high profile series such as The Octonauts, Fleabags, Roy and The Thunderbirds. He is currently co-directing children's feature Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg?
6. Best Writer for an Animated Series - Dave Ingham and Jocelyn Stevenson
Dave Ingham is an award winning writer and animator who has written for many high profile shows such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, Horrid Henry, Shaun the Sheep and Charlie & Lola.Jocelyn Stevenson has worked in children's television for over thirty years as a writer, creator, producer and executive producer. Her credits include Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Pingu.
7. Best Animation for Apps and Gaming - Eric Huang and Dominic Minns
Eric is Development Director at Made in Me, an award winning digital agency in London specialising in children's entertainment. Eric joined Made in Me from Mind Candy and he looks after IP development, Made in Me apps and Me books and digital bookshop for kids.Dominic is Creative Director at Plug in Media where he has led the company’s interactive digital content for over 10 years. Dom directs all Plug in Media's projects including Psychoville Returns, Big and Small and Zingzillas.
8.Best Design/Art Direction- Curtis Jobling and Fergal Reilly
Curtis is Creative Director at Bada Bing and is the designer of worldwide hit Bob the Builder and the author/illustrator of numerous children's' books. Early work on Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit and Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks led him to design BAFTA winning Bob in 1997.Fergal is currently directing the upcoming 3D, CG animated Angry Birds feature. He began his career as a story/concept artist for Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros and Sony/Columbia Pictures. His credits include The Iron Giant, Hotel Transylvania and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
9. Best Director- Dean DeBlois and Jørgen Lerdam
Dean DeBlois is the Oscar nominated and Annie Award Writer and Director of How to Train Your Dragon 2, How to Train your Dragon and Lilo and Stitch.Jørgen Lerdam is a Director from Denmark. He has directed many features including Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure, Jungle Jack- The Star and Olsen Gang Gets Polished.
10. Best Animation - Morgan Francis and Genevieve Dexter
Morgan is the founder of Spider Eye which creates TV Series, short films, specials, commercials and VFX in 2D and 3D. He directed the hit series Jungle Junction and co-directed Moshi Monsters: The Movie.Genevieve has over 20 years experience in the industry she is best known for founding CAKE Entertainment in 2002. CAKE's programming such as King Arthur's Disasters, Skunk Fu! and Tiny Planets was nominated for many BAFTA's. Genevieve has since founded Serious Lunch whose current projects include The Wombles and Horrible Science
11. Best Music/ Sound Design - Matthew Slater and Tom Gray
Matthew is an experienced musician and composer with over 17 years in the industry. His credits include major BBC1 six part series Britain's Big Wildlife Revival, the acclaimed BBC2 series Sandhurst, Channel 4’s Dispatches and CBBC's Tilly and Friends. Our second judge Tom Gray teamed up with Matthew on Tilly and Friends. Tom is a Mercury award winning songwriter of the band Gomez.
12. Best Student Short - Giant Animation and Treehouse Republic
Giant Animation is an innovative, Dublin based animation studio dedicated to the development and production of premium animated content for all platforms. Giant Animation Studios has been nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA), selected for competition in Annecy 2012 and has also won two consecutive Digital Media Awards for Best Animation in 2012 and 2013.Treehouse Republic, funded in 2010, has grown into an award winning creative content and digital production studio. Treehouse Republic creates everything from video animation and visual effects to motion graphics, live action images, interactive games, app development and e-learning tools whilst developing their own dangerously funny animation series. They recently presented their latest project Dragon Fist at Cartoon Forum 2014.