Bristol School of Animation in association with Oscar winners Aardman and Toon Boom, worldwide leaders in animation software solutions, are pleased to announce its annual storyboarding competition for 2008.

A storyboard visually coveys the plot and action of a scene, shot, whole film or a commercial. We are looking for talented individuals to produce an original and creative storyboard (no more than 20 frames) for an animated advertisement (may include live action), Theme/title: ‘Insect Repellent’. Now here comes the science bit! How does this product work? What’s it called? What does it kill and how? It can be serious, touching, funny even a spoof, but it must be thirty seconds long with a three second pack shot at the end.

The competition judges will be looking for skills in the development and communication of a strong, innovative, well realised idea and/or technique and less about beautifully rendered storyboards.

The Prize:
The Prize The first prize of this competition is a free place to study either 2D drawn or 3D Stop Motion Pro on Bristol School of Animation’s prestigious ‘Three Month Animation Course’ running from June until September 2008. This fantastic prize also includes accommodation costs for the duration of the eleven week period, a free copy of Toon Boom Storyboard Pro to the value of £450. There will also be runners-up prizes on offer including a special copy of Aardman's book 'The World of Wallace and gromit' signed by Peter Lord, Nick park and David Sproxton.

• The deadline for all entries is 7 March 2008
• The competiton is open to everyone over 18 years of age.
• Applicants must submit a completed storyboard and competition application form.
• Storyboards can be in colour or monochrome. They must be no more than 20 frames in length.
• Storyboards must be completed within the specified format using the template provided (you can make as many copies of the template as you like).
• Entries from outside the UK should allow at least 2 weeks delivery time.
• Please keep copies of your entries, as we are unable to return the originals.
• Application forms and storyboard templates can be downloaded from the Bristol School of Animation pages on our website www.uwe.ac.uk/amd or by contacting us at amd.shortcourses@uwe.ac.uk
• Please keep copies of your entries, as we are unable to return the originals.
• The judges decision is final

You can download an application form at amd.uwe.ac.uk/files/Comp_App_Form.doc and a storyboarding template at amd.uwe.ac.uk/files/Storyboard%20Template%20Document.doc.

For more information please contact us on:
Tel: +44 (0) 117 32 84810 Email: amd.shortcourses@uwe.ac.uk Website: www.uwe.ac.uk/amd

Please send all entries to:
Storyboarding Competition 2008,
Bristol School of Animation,
University of the West of England,
Bower Ashton Campus,
Kennel Lodge Road

Toon Boom is a proud sponsor of Project Twenty1! This January, Project Twenty1 will debut its Film-A-Thon, where the top 21 submitted films and animations will theatrically screen on Philadelphia's famous South Street. The overall "Best Film" will receive a seat of Toom Boom Storyboard Pro, and honorable mentions will receive ToomBoom Storyboard Family. Do you think you have what it takes to be in the top 21? Visit www.projecttwenty1.com for more info - hurry, the deadline is almost here!

In addition to supporting the Film-A-Thon, Toom Boom will also be involved with Project Twenty1's annual competition this summer where Teams of filmmakers will have 21 days to complete a short film or animation based on a common secret "Element." More detailed information about the competition will be available after the New Year. Visit them on MySpace at www.myspace.com/projecttwenty1.

2008 Create Awards is one of the top creative competitions for professionals and students in advertising, film and video, motion graphics, graphic communication, photography, printing, interactive media, and copywriting. The competition spans eight industries and includes more than 300 categories. www.thecreateawards.com

The 2008 Awards promise industry-relevant products and prizes valued at over $125,000. Toon Boom has contributed the Toon Boom Story Board Pro worth $899 for the Advertising and Film+ Video Categories. Together The Create Awards and Toon Boom will reward and recognize the most innovative contributors to the creative industries.

Gold winners in each category also take home an All-Access Full Conference Pass to Create Chaos 2008, Create Magazine’s all-inclusive creative industries conference October 13 through 17 in Orlando, FL. The package is valued at $995.

The Create Awards is open to all creative professionals and students. To enter, work must have appeared on the marketplace between April 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008. A panel of esteemed industry professionals from around the nation will judge entries. For more information on entering, visit thecreateawards.com. Out of the 2,400 pieces entered for The 2007 Create Awards, 235 received awards including Silver and Gold Awards, Best of Category, Best of Student, eight (8) Best of Industry Prize Packages, and the Best of Show Dream Studio Prize Package.

Kinematifest is Webster University's student SIGGRAPH chapter, in conjunction with their Animation and Interactive Media department, are proud to announce the first annual Kinematifest: Webster University's International Animation and Interactive Media festival.

The mission of Kinematifest is to showcase and encourage projects and interest in animation and interactive media. They strive to give students an opportunity to have their work professionally critiqued, and to allow students to network with professionals and peers in the Animation and Interactive Media fields. Additionally, they hope to provide a fun, warm, and welcoming atmosphere for all attendees.

The contest is open to all High School age, College, and University students (both undergraduate and graduate). They encourage all students interested in either Animation or Interactive Media to participate, as this is an excellent opportunity to receive critique and recognition for their work by well-established professionals in the field.

Categories include 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Sequential Art (including storyboards and graphic novels), Compositions (including CG Models and Still 3D Scenes), and Interactive Media (CD-ROMs, Webpages, and Video Games). Winners, as well as the overall "Best in Show," of each category will receive individual awards.

The Swan Lake: Moving Image & Music Award is an education oriented award programme at the University of applied Sciences in Mittweida, Germany, created to honour the very best in the new age music video clip creation.

The award aims to couple educational multimedia teaching programmes with digital art, focusing in discovering and promoting young talents from university environments all over Europe and beyond.

Since 2004 SL:MIMA has been a price of innovation for students and free artists in the sector of cross-media. Moreover there is a unique connection to musicians of New Age music genre. In worldwide cooperation they lend their songs to get inventive and nonrecurring videoclips for their music. In this unique symbiosis the aim is not only to etablish a well-known price but to build a network of talented people and support them on their way.

A series of workshops accompanies the programme and is aimed at familiarising students with the whole range of digital art technologies – from visualisation and rendering techniques, to digital aesthetics, cross-media events and interactive virtual spaces, and experiments from the ambient multi-medial area.

Some call it punk rock, some call it grass roots, but labels aside - NYC based Animation Block Party is dedicated to exhibiting the world's best independent, professional and student animation.

Our main mode of broadcast is the once a year, Animation Block Party, a four day film Brooklyn festival in late July. ABP summer festivals are full of indoor/outdoor events, juried prizes, cool sponsored stuff, good music, cold drinks and the world's best animated shorts on-screen.

Animation Block does offer other sources of exhibition, such as the web selects section of our site that promotes animation makers and their films. We also distribute shorts through our Animation Block Party Mix-Tapes, DVD releases that showcase some of the festival's best shorts.

For more info, go to: http://animationblock.com.

At the crossroads of the Festival and Mifa, the Creative Focus is "the" place for meetings and exchanges between professionals and young talents. It also organises an international competition for independent animated short film projects. All projects submitted to the International Project Competition: - are shown to a professional jury; - compete for a Jury Prize and prizes offered by Festival and Mifa partners; - are presented at the Creative Focus.

All prizewinning projects are listed in Le guide Mifa and their creators granted: - an appointment to present their project to delegates at the Creative Focus; - advice from a producer "sponsor", who will help them to get their project off the ground; - free "Mifa + Conferences + Festival" accreditation.

And finally... Many projects have found production deals thanks to the exposure and prizes won at the International Project Competition and have gone on to become films selected and rewarded at renowned festivals.

And finally... Many projects have found production deals thanks to the exposure and prizes won at the International Project Competition and have gone on to become films selected and rewarded at renowned festivals.

Sometimes, little projects can turn into great prize winners!

For more info, Please read the following regulations (PDF).

Brussels, Feb. 1 - 9, 2008

Anima provides a key showcase for the entire range of quality animation, right in the heart of Europe. More than hundred plus in the international competition, original retrospectives, exhibitions, film lectures and workshops, events such as "La nuit animée", the professionalforum Futuranima, and representative guests make Brussels a major international meeting-place for thousands of local people and overseas visitors. For the latter it's also an opportunity to discover Belgian animation production and to meet students and up-and-coming young professionals. Anima also nominates, from the European selection, its candidates for the "Cartoon d'Or"

• Best Feature Film Award
• Best Short films Awards
• Best Short student films Award
• Best commercial Award
• Best musical video Award
• Nomination for "Cartoon d'Or"

Practical Details

The inscription is free of charge. The Brussels Festival pays transport costs (both ways) and insurance for prints selected to be shown at the Festival.

Deadlines
Entry forms: Oct 15, 2007
Arrival of prints: Jan. 8, 2008

Informations, rules and downloadable entry form: www.folioscope.be.

Contact Information

Anima 2008
Folioscope
Av. de Stalingradlaan 52
B 1000 Brussels
BELGIUM

www.anima2008.be
Phone: 32/2/534.41.25
Fax: 32/2/534.22.79
E mail:info@folioscope.be

Anima provides a key showcase for the entire range of quality animation, right in the heart of Europe. More than hundred plus in the international competition, original retrospectives, exhibitions, film lectures and workshops, events such as “La nuit animée”, the professional forum Futuranima, and representative guests make Brussels a major international meeting-place for thousands of local people and overseas visitors. For the latter it’s also an opportunity to discover Belgian animation production and to meet students and up-and-coming young professionals.

New in 2008

In addition to the traditional competition awards (short and long films), the festival welcomes two new sections for its competition: commercials and music videos.

The competition

• Award for best feature film
• Awards for best short films
• Award for best short student film
• Award for best commercial
• Award for best music video
• Nomination for the Cartoon d'Or, etc

For more info, go to: www.anima2008.be

Tampere 38th International Short Film Festival will take place on March 5-9, 2008. It is a celebration of filmic art during five bright days and late nights. The International and the Finnish short film competitions of Tampere Film Festival screen the best short films from all over the world. Besides the International and Finnish Short Film competitions, the festival also has a new competition category in 2008. LAB1O is a competition dedicated to films with specially innovative substance and technique, films that develop original solutions and are creative in a fresh way. LAB1O competition views and displays works that boldly reside in the frontiers between film, visual art, photography and technology.

In 2008 the special themes focus on Palestine, South Korea and Russia. The Canon of Short Film continues to present the best short films of all times. This year's retrospectives will focus on animations by Joanna Quinn from UK and Johan Hagelbäck from Sweden. The Finnish retrospective consists of short films by Kari Paljakka, who will also make the carte blanche screening. Videotivoli is our event for films made by kids for kids, organized for the fifth time this year. The festival is also bursting with various side activities: seminars, exhibitions, concerts, club nights and plenty of other possibilities for socializing.

In 2007 Tampere Film Festival gathered nearly 30.000 visitors of which 1.000 were accredited film and television professionals (including nearly 200 journalists from Finland and more than 200 international guests). There were about 600 films shown in 120 screenings

Tampere Film Festival has established itself as the oldest and largest short film festival in Northern Europe and is one of the most significant annual cultural events in Finland. Our next festival, the 38th Edition will be a colourful, sparkling and glittering jubilee taking place in the beautiful wintery Tampere. There will also be a Film Market and seminars. Those will be meeting places for broadcasting companies, film professionals, software and hardware industry and governmental institutions in the audio-visual field. About 1.000 professionals and students are expected to participate in the Film Market.

For more info, go to: www.tamperefilmfestival.fi

Held every two years, the British Animation Awards (BAA) covers all aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, music videos, new technologies, script-writing and craftsmanship. Next Awards night is on March 13th, 2008.

Entry deadline: 30 November ’07
Pre-selection & Judging: November and December.
Judging: December and January.
Entrants whose work has been short-listed for judging will be notified. Each jury selects three finalists from each awards category, which are screened in extract on the Awards Night (March 13th) and the winner is announced.

In February 2008, 3 programmes, each with a mix of films, music vids and commercials, selected from open entry, are screened at 20 cinemas across the UK, and audiences vote for their favourites. Any venues wishing to join in the touring programme, please contact us at info@britishanimationawards.com

For more info, go to: www.britishanimationawards.com.

ZOOLOOK, LLC., a San Francisco-based new media agency, announced its call for entries to the fifth annual TGSNT storytelling competition. Presented by Ripe Digital Entertainment, a leader in Video On Demand digital entertainment distribution, advertising and production, TGSNT™(The Greatest Story Never Told) competition seeks to recognize and reward emerging and established 2D/3D animators, comic book artists, filmmakers, independent storytellers and students worldwide who produce original stories for the web, dvd, tv, film, VOD and wireless entertainment.

The 5th Annual TGSNT™ (The Greatest Story Never Told™) Storytelling Competition is hosted by the Cavedudez and sponsored in part by Media Temple, Inc., Adobe Systems Incorporated, Toon Boom and Final Draft, with media support from Design Taxi, Favourite Website Awards and Netdiver.net.

To enter, visit www.tgsnt.com and complete the online form to submit your story for consideration. No entry fee is required and multiple submission are permitted. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2008. All winners will be announced on April 7, 2008. For additional information about TGSNT, please visit: www.tgsnt.com.

The Basauri-Bizkaia International Animated Film Festival is organized by Gorostilanda and Gozila Cultural Association. The festival is brought up with the support of Basque Government, the Deputation of Bizkaia and the City Council of Basauri. The IV edition of ANIMABASAURI / ANIMABASQUE will be held from the 18th to the 25th of April, 2008. The organizing entities’ aim is to promote the audiovisual animation and boost cinematographic and audiovisual arts. Its intention is to create a work frame where all kind of animation can be showed in order to support a better co-operation and understanding between cultures from around the world by presenting innovative works of merit.

For more info, go to: www.animabasauri.com

The Festival ReAnimacja will take place between 25 – 27 April 2008 in Lodz, Poland. The main part of the Festival programme is a competition for the best short animated film. The competition is addressed to films submitted by art schools and film schools, production companies, film institutions and individual authors. Films by the Jury members or the Selection Committee members will not be accepted for the Festival Competition.

For more info, go to: www.reanimacjafestival.com

Sheduled for July 19, 2008, the California International Animation Festival focuses on independent animation of all types, 2D, 3D, Anime and Mixed Media/Experimental. Held in a classic theatre, the CalAniFest takes advantage of the offerings of digital media projection systems in presenting films from around the world. Offerings in the past include films nominated for the Oscar, the BAFTA and similar awards in Japan. Films have included 1st projects from new animators and high end projects from such studios as Disney – but not in competition with each other.

Screenings are done by age brackets, providing a chance for young children to attend and participate, through sections for more adult oriented produce and , of course, the great numbers of fans of Anime.

For more info please contact www.CalAniFest.com or call George Baker, Festival Director, at 209-537-5221.

Held in Bucharest from October 3 to 12, Anim'est 2008 is organized by Estenest, Romanian cultural association, offering a platform for an international animated film festival competition. The festival is open to short and feature film, video clip and advertising, student film and Romanian shorts and it comprises five official categories and a non-competitive one. During the festival, there will also be seminars, workshops, forums and retrospectives.

Practical information
No entry fee
Festival dates: October 3th to 12th, 2008

Deadlines:

1. Entry form: VHS or DVD plus the documents: July 20th, 2008
2. Arrival of prints: September 20th, 2008

For more info, go to: animest.ro/index_en.html