Cartoon Forum, the pitching and co-production forum for animated TV projects, will be taking place from 19-22 September 2022 in Toulouse, France. For the sixteenth time, Cartoon Tributes pay homage to outstanding players of European animation. Broken down into three categories – broadcaster, investor/distributor, and producer of the year and these awards will be voted by around 1,000 participants from 40 countries attending the event.
This year’s finalists hail from eight European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain. Winners will be announced on 22 September.
Public broadcasters Germany’s KiKA and Slovakia’s RTVS, private TV channel France’s TF1 Unité Jeunesse, and global multi-platform company GLITCH are the four nominees on the shortlist for ‘Broadcaster of the Year’. Meanwhile, selected candidates for the ‘Investor/Distributor of the Year’ award are Denmark’s
DR Sales, Italy’s KidsMe, France’s Nathan Univers Jeunesse, and Spain’s GoldBee, whose selection underlines their major role in the circulation of European series, both within and beyond the region’s borders.
Lastly, the ‘Producer of the Year’ category has two French nominations: Normaal and Watch Next Media. The shortlist also includes two companies with a strong track record in co-production: Poland’s Letko and Spain’s Peekaboo Animation. Three of the four finalists in this category will present their new projects at Cartoon Forum 2022, thus highlighting this event’s relevance in the development of new series.
Cartoon Tributes 2022 Nominees:
- Broadcaster of the Year
- GLITCH (The Netherlands)– Created in 2021 by Tribes Media, a media start-up specialized in developing niche subscription streaming services, GLITCH is the world’s first adult animation SVoD platform. Available in more than 170 countries worldwide, GLITCH’s offer combines multi-format animation (films, series, audiobooks, and podcasts), and is curated ‘from and for the fans’.
- KiKA (Germany)– Operated jointly by public-service broadcasters ARD & ZDF, KiKA is Germany’s leading children’s content provider. Dedicated exclusively to children, from preschoolers to six- to nine-year olds and pre-teens, this platform offers commercial and violence-free content through its linear and non-linear offerings. Odo, Stinky Dog, Edmund and Lucy, Sir Mouse and Animanimals are some of the European series included in the channel’s schedule.
- Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS Slovakia)– Founded in 2011, public broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) operates five channels (Jednotka, Dvojka, Trojka, :24 and Šport), and features animated series such as Nelly & Caesar, Dounia, Mum Is Pouring Rain and Zibilla.
- TF1 Unité Jeunesse (France)– Animation plays a leading role at TF1, the French television network owned by TF1 Group. With an average audience share of 33.7 per cent among four to 10-year-olds, TF1’s children’s slot TFOU broadcasts 750 hours of programming a year, including series as Miraculous Ladybug, Pfffirates, Gus – The Itsy Bitsy Knight, Ghostforce, Ernest & Rebecca and Splat & Harry, among others.
- Investor/Distributor of the Year
- DR Sales (Denmark)– DR Sales, the international sales department of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, is the leading Nordic distributor of high-quality storytelling targeting all ages. Their catalogue features series for both children and youth, including Team Nuggets— shortlisted in Cartoon Forum’s previous edition —Fabulous Stories by Kids, and John Dillermand.
- GoldBee (Spain)-Barcelona-based GoldBee provides broadcasters and digital platforms with both award-winning kids and family content, and internationally renowned brands. The company distributes over 2,500 half-hour programs produced by première content providers in the industry, such as ZDF, BBC, Corus Entertainment, France Télévisions, and WDR. Ziggy and the Zootram, Henrietta, and Cleo & Cuquin are some of the series included in its roster.
- KidsMe (Italy)– Focused on the development, production, content curation, and distribution of local and European content dedicated to the kids & family target, KidsMe produces all television genres, including live action, animation, educational, factual entertainment, and game shows. Animation holds an important place in the company’s catalogue, which includes titles such as Brave Bunnies, Sullivan’s Sails, and Spooky Wolf. The company is a subsidiary of Gruppo De Agostini.
- Nathan Univers Jeunesse (France)– Editions Nathan is a family business going back 130 years that has become one of the reference houses of the Editis Group. This company offers a wide range of books, a number of which have been adapted into animated series, as was the case with Azur & Asmar, Edmund & Lucy, Splat & Harry &s T’Choupi.
- Producer of the Year
- Letko (Poland)– Based in Warsaw, Letko is a 2D animation studio focused on the development & production of animated projects. Specialized in hand-drawn, cut-out and 2D projects combined with 3D elements, this company seeks “to tell positive stories with soul to all kinds of audiences all around the world”. Following the successful pre-school series Odo, the company presents Happy not Lucky at Cartoon Forum 2022.
- Normaal (France)– Based in Paris and Angoulême, this company’s editorial line combines original works and adaptations of pop culture classics. Normaal boasts a well-balanced catalogue, in which series such as Hello World!, Ella, Oscar & Hoo blend in with internationally renowned properties such as Peanuts and Barbapapa. The company will be presenting Kat & Cats at Cartoon Forum 2022.
- Peekaboo Animation (Spain)– Peekaboo Animation is an independent production company based in Barcelona. With extensive experience in animation, Peekaboo prides itself on ‘creating, drawing, writing, producing, and financing its own shows with fresh e innovative ideas.’ Among Peekaboo’s major highlights are I, Elvis Riboldi, My Little Heroes, and Mironins, while their upcoming project Best Friends Forever… Stranded! will be presented at Toulouse.
- Watch Next Media (France)– Founded in Paris in 2015, Watch Next Media is a production company specializing in animated TV series that seeks ‘to control every step from conception to exploitation’. Dungeons & Kittens, Wild Kat, Audrey’s Shelter, and Nate is Late are some of the series produced by this studio.