aniBoom,
an animation virtual studio, has unveiled the winners for its Third Annual aniBoom
Awards designed for independent animators across the globe. After
receiving roughly 1300 entries from 93 cities in 27 countries, the studio said
the grand prize was awarded to Joaquin Baldwin from Sherman Oaks, California by
a high profile executive jury and millions of viewers. Baldwin's animation, "Sebastian's
Voodoo," is a touching story of a voodoo doll who sacrifices himself for
his friends. As the grand prize winner, Baldwin will receive a $25,000 investment
in commercial development and a distribution deal with aniBoom that will enable
the winning animator to receive significant career-making exposure through a variety
of outlets and channels, the company said. "We
applaud all those who entered the aniBoom Awards from around the world and particularly
congratulate the extremely talented artists who earned cash and prizes,"
said Uri Shinar, founder and president of aniBoom. "Year after year, we look
forward to seeing remarkable animations, sharing the work of these independent
artists with the world, and partnering to develop the next breakthrough animation
property."
Along with the top winner,
aniBoom's online animation community selected three Community
Favorites, led by top community winner "Bang Bang You
are Bread" by Australia's Mitch Wade, while the competition's
panel of judges chose three Top Selections led by Germany's
Tomer Eshed and his animation, "Our Wonderful Nature."
These six winners along with the top 50 community picks will
share $50,000 in cash and prizes, including ToonBoom software,
CG Society books, and Stash DVD magazines with coupon cards
valued at USD55. In addition to the cash and prizes, winners
of the aniBoom Awards will benefit from substantial exposure
across aniBoom's multi-platform animation network and will
be considered for original series development deals, according
to the company.
"We
at aniBoom were very excited to implement an innovative ranking system for this
year's aniBoom Awards that gauged community popularity not only by views and votes
but also by how viral an animation was," said Shawn Stein, online marketing
director for aniBoom. "The community ranking is made up of a number of factors
online giving a real and fair indication of how popular a movie becomes." The
judging panel for the aniBoom Awards included Yair Landau, former President of
Sony Pictures Digital, Barbara Corday, a top American television executive, writer
and producer mainly known for co-creating the television series Cagney & Lacey,
Peter Hirshberg, Chairman & Chief Marketing Officer of Technorati, John Mass,
Executive Vice President and head of Corporate Development and New Ventures for
the William Morris Agency, LLC, Mauro Del Rio, Founder and Chairman of Buongiorno
S.p.A., Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Founder and CEO of the Gotham Group, and Yehuda
Wurtzel, Senior Vice President, Content Development and Production at aniBoom.
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