The winners have been announced for the prestigious British Animation Awards 2022 at a ceremony held tonight at London’s BFI Southbank, presented by comedian Miles Jupp and sponsored by Hanna Barbera Studios Europe. Now in their 26th year, the British Animation Awards (BAAs) attract the great and the good from one of the nation’s most successful creative industries to this biennial celebration of their craft.
Gathering momentum ahead of the Academy Awards later this month, Britain’s two Oscar-nominated short films Affairs of the Art and Robin Robin were triumphant in their categories with Affairs of the Art, picking up three awards Best Short Film, Writers Award, and Best Voice Performance (for 86-year-old Little Britain star Menna Trussler as ‘Beryl’). Created by film-making partners Joanna Quinn and Les Mills, Affairs of the Art continues the story of larger-than-life Welsh housewife Beryl who has artistic ambitions on a grand scale. Meanwhile, Robin Robin, Aardman Animations’ beautiful Netflix Original film about an optimistic robin raised by a family of mice, won the award for Best Original Music for its score written by The Bookshop Band – Ben Please and Beth Porter.
London-based animation studio Magic Light Pictures was successful in two categories, with BBC-One Christmas special Zog and the Flying Doctors winning for Best Use of Sound and delightful Milkshake! and Sky Kids series Pip and Posy, picking up the award for Best Children’s Pre-School. Meanwhile, the Best Children’s category was won by Fourth Wall’s feline-focused series Milo, also shown on Channel 5’s Milkshake!
One of the closest-fought categories of the night was the prestigious Best Long Form category, which saw victory for Locksmith Animations’ debut feature Ron’s Gone Wrong. Directed by Jean-Phillipe Vine, Sarah Smith and Octavio E Rodriguez, the film tells the story of a socially-awkward middle-schooler who befriends a defective robot.
Providing a breath of fresh air in the Best Animation in a Commercial category was Airwick for its Breath of Nature campaign, directed by Peter Szewczyk of Nerd Productions. And rocking the Best Music Video Award was animator Ged Haney, with his video for Rocket Freudental’s ‘Der Stuhlkreis’.
A hard-hitting film featuring the voices of some of Hollywood’s hottest stars picked up the award for Best Factual. Save Ralph, an animated short film warning about the cruelty of testing on animals, produced for the Humane Society International, was written and directed by Spencer Susser and featured the voices of Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, and Oliver Munn. Meanwhile, the Social Good category was won by Typically, a film aiming to remove the taboo surrounding periods, produced for period poverty charity Bloody Good Period and directed by Anna Ginsburg and Caitlin McCarthy.
In two of the new categories for 2022, the Best Immersive Animation award was picked up by Grant Berry and Dane Winn’s The Beast, while the Wildcard category was won by Osbert Parker’s Timeline.
Continuing to challenge the status quo, the Cutting-Edge award was won by Jamie Jay Johnson and Asa Movshovitz’s E4 series about a role-playing fantasy game Dead Pixels. And this year’s Design Award was won by Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, a Netflix Original directed by Ian Spendloff, with VFX by Lucy Hare.
Some of the leading British animation courses were represented in the Best Undergraduate and Best Postgraduate Student film categories including nominees from Falmouth University School of Film and Television, University of Creative Arts in Farnham, Arts University Bournemouth, Royal College of Arts London, and National Film & Television School. The winners were Renee Zahn’s (NFTS) O Black Hotel! for Best Postgraduate Student Film and Miles Jezuita’s (Arts University Bournemouth) Suburb for Best Undergraduate Student Film.
Introduced in 2020, The Lamb Award bridges the gap between current categories which recognise student achievements and general best-in-class awards and is open to any young professionals working in the animation and VFX industry. The winner of the 2022 Lamb Award is Production Coordinator Hodan Abdi, who was nominated by Illuminated Films.
Three awards on the night were decided by members of the public, voting for their favourites in a special online poll. The winners of these audience awards were: Tony Comley’s Time to Recover for Best Music Video, Uri Lotan’s Black Slide for Best Short Film and Sky Kids’ hit children’s series The Brilliant World of Tom Gates for the Children’s Choice Award.
The awards themselves (the BAAs) are unique artworks, featuring sheep, created especially for the occasion by a range of leading international and UK animation artists: a measure of the worldwide respect felt for British animation. This year’s awards include designs by author/illustrators Liz Pichon and Rachel Bright and legendary filmmaker Terry Gilliam.
BAA director Helen Brunsdon and producer Kieran Argo said, “We have been amazed at the quality of the entrants for this year’s British Animation Awards and would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to all the winners and nominees. After a particularly tough couple of years animation continues to be one of the most productive and creative industries in the UK.”
In a message of support recorded for the awards, Julia Lopez, MP, minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) praised the originality, quality, and innovation of the UK’s world-class animation workforce.
The BAAs are the only awards to recognize all forms of animation and reward the work of both new and established animators across all aspects of the UK Animation scene, from student work to commercials, children’s entertainment, short and experiential films, music videos, and new technologies.
Full details of all the finalists and winners are listed below:
Best Long Form
Sesame Street’s: The Monster at The End of the Story – director Mark Taylor
Ron’s Gone Wrong – director Jean- Philippe Vine, Sarah Smith, Octavio E Rodriguez (co-director)
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas – director Steve Cox
Best Voice Performance
Taika Waititi and Ricky Gervais – Save Ralph
Menna Trussler – Beryl in Affairs of the Art
Ben Wishaw – The Adventures of Paddington
Bella Ramsey – Hilda: The Fifty Year Night
Bel Powley- Little My in Moominvalley
Best Children’s Series
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates – George Sawyer
Milo – Chris Capstick
Hilda: The Deerfox –Andy Coyle
Best Children’s Pre-School
The Adventures of Paddington – Adam Shaw, Chris Drew
Hey Duggee – Grant Orchard, Sander Jones
Circle Square – Dir: Greg Mcleod
Milo – Chris Capstick
Pip and Posy –Jeroen Jaspaert, Matt Tea
Best Animation in a Commercial
The Girl Who Built a Rocket –Neeraja Rj
Breath of Nature – Peter Szewczyk
Save Ralph – Spencer Susser
MotoGP Returns –Andton Alfimenko
Best Music Video
Rocket Freudental, Der Stuhlkreis – Ged Haney
Mama Jerk and the Ladyfingers, Mountain – Harrison Fleming
Foo Fighters, Chasing Birds – Emlyn Davies, Josh Hicks
Christy Moore, The Voyage –Jessica Patterson
Jamie Cullum, Age of Anxiety –Neil Pymer
Writers Award
Circle Square: Pizza Mystery – Myles Mcleod
Affairs of the Art – Les Mills
Ron’s Gone Wrong – Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith
The Rubbish World of Dave Spud: Twinfestation – Madeleind Brettingham
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas – Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow
Best Post Graduate Film
O Black Hole! – Renee Zhan – National Film and Television School
Other Half – Lina Kalcheva – National Film and Television School
Eating in the Dark – Inari Sirola – Royal College of Arts London
Best Short Film
FlattenTheCurve#1 – Studio Desk, Kathrin Steinbacher, Emily Downe
Meow or Never –Neeraja Raj
Save Ralph –Spencer Susser
Black Slide – Dir: Uri Lotan
Affairs of the Art – Joanna Quinn
Best Original Music
Sol – Music by Michael Keeney, Chris Strong, Dir – Gráinee McGuiness
I Am Odd – Composers Benjamin Giroux, Mike Connaris
Robin Robin – Music: The Bookshop Band – Ben Please and Beth Porter, Dan Ojari, Mikey Please
Edgar’s Christmas – Composer Mike MacLenan, Dir Kyra Buscho and Constantin Paeplow
Love Monster – Theme music: Jeremy Warmsley, Score composed by Esther Joy Land and Hannah Charman, Dir Rufus Blackstock
Best Social Good
Typically – Dir: Anna Ginsburg, Caitlin McCarthy
Diabetes Symptoms – Dir: Angie Phillips, Phoebe Halstead
Up River: A Shadventure on the River Severn – Dir: Tom Stubbs
You Being You – Dir: Kong Studio
Sinking Feeling – Dir: Mark Spokes
Best Under-Graduate
To Be a Goat – Milda Kargaudaite – University of Creative Arts in Farnham
True Colours – Hanna Lea Wyttenbach – Arts University Bournemouth
Case Closed – Lucy Gatenby – Falmouth University School of Film and Television
@Scroll Alice – Céline Ufenast – University of Creative Arts in Farnham
Suburb – Miles Jezuita – Arts University Bournemouth
Best Use of Sound
Elliot from Earth: Wednesday pt2 – Dir: Mic Graves, Tony Hull, Rhys Byfield, Mikey Please
Hilda: The Deerfox – Dir: Andy Coyle
The Rubbish World of Dave Spud: Burning Wheels – Dir: Ed Foster
Zog and the Flying Doctors – Adrian Rhodes, Dir Sean Mullen
Pip and Posy: Swapsies – Jason Heath, Dir Jeroen Jaspaert, Matt Tea
Best Design
Ron’s Gone Wrong – Jean- Philippe Vine, Sarah Smith, Octavio E Rodriguez (Co-Director)
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey – Dir: Ian Spendloff
Raised By Wolves –Steve Small
Circle Square: Jungle House – Greg McLeod
Best Factual
Save Ralph –Spencer Susser
Timeline – Osbert Parker
Lamb Award
Sanna Räsänen – art director and Puppet maker- Nominated by One6th
Teifi Cadwallader – animator – nominated by Cloth Cat
Lisa-Mae Evans – Mid Look Development Artist nominated by Blue Zoo Animation
Emilie Brown – Lead props modeller – nominated by Blue-Zoo Animation
Hodan Abdi – Production co-ordinator – Nominated by Illuminated Films
Cutting Edge
Save Ralph –Spencer Susser
Sub-Surface –Alex Robinson
Dead Pixels S2 – Jamie Jay Johnson, Asa Movshovitz
Wildcard (Awarded to animations of any duration deemed ‘extraordinary’)
Timeline – Dir: Osbert Parker
Boris Johnson Eats a Pot Noodle in the Bath – Ross Butter
Strange –Cameron Carr
Squib: When All of This is Over –Baz Sells
Hench Girl Summer –Beatriz Antunes
Best Immersive Animation
Peace of Mind –Ben Steer
The Beast – Grant Berry and Dane Winn
Madrid Noir –James A Castillo
British Animation Awards Audience Award: Short Film
Black Slide – Uri Lotan
British Animation Awards Audience Award: Music Video
Time to Recover –Tony Comley
Children’s Choice Award
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates – George Sawyer
