The Oscar-nominated film Wolfwalkers was the big winner in this year’s Irish Animation Awards, coming away with four wins in total.
The flick from Kilkenny studio Cartoon Saloon landed Best Irish Feature or Special and three other awards during the ceremony which was broadcast online and hosted by Irish TV and radio star Baz Ashmawy.
Dublin studio Kavaleer came away with three awards for their CBBC show Boy, Girl, Dog, Cat, Mouse, Cheese, including the coveted Best Animated Kids Series award.
Cartoon Saloon also picked up two awards for their animated kids series, Dorg Van Dango, while Magic Light Pictures and Giant Animation’s BBC feature Zog and the Flying Doctors picked up an award for Best Storyboarding.
The winner of the Best Animated Short Film was Her Song, which portrayed the harrowing story of the Mother and Baby Homes and was featured on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show in January.
The awards this year featured four new categories, including Best Storyboarding, Best Editing, Best Student Film and Best New Irish IP.
Animation Ireland Chief Executive, Ronan McCabe, said the entries for this year’s event made it “the most competitive year any of us have ever seen at the Irish Animation Awards”.
“It has never been harder to win an Irish Animation Award and judging by the way the animation industry is growing in Ireland, it isn’t going to get any easier next time. It’s really heartening to see that the sector has continued to produce outstanding work and that the future remains bright for Irish animation.
“One award that we were especially pleased with is Best Student Film, won this year by Cora McKenna for Shergar. Animation Ireland has been working hard over the past five years to develop job opportunities in animation and to encourage more students to get involved in a great career choice.’’
Winners of each category received a statuette designed by animator, film maker and teacher Eimhin McNamara. The statuette resembles a Phenakistoscope, which was an early animation device used to create an illusion of motion.
Animation Ireland is the trade association for Ireland’s animation studios, representing 32 member studios, who employ more than 2,000 people nationwide.
The sector has seen meteoric growth in recent years, with the sector now generating almost €200 million for the economy annually, as Irish animation projects are viewed in over 120 countries worldwide.
