To recognise and honour the brilliant creative minds behind the amazing animated content that is being produced, the fourth edition of Animation Xpress’ Ann Awards is back. It is officially open for entries, 31 July being the deadline.
India’s premium full scale animation awards that intends on bringing recognition and setting a bar for the Indian animation industry and all its aspects, is scheduled to be held on 12 and 13 September 2023 in Mumbai. Ann Awards is a part of the Kids, Animation & More (KAM) Summit which comes in a rebranded avatar as Animation & More Summit and Ann Awards 2023.
The first edition of Ann Awards had 33 categories. The event organisers have added more categories during the second edition, giving every possible sector associated with the animation industry a chance to shine in the spotlight it deserves. The third edition had eight main categories with 67 sub categories.
Ann Awards 2023 has 10 main categories with 101 sub categories, alongside Ram Mohan Award (instituted last year in association with Graphiti Multimedia) and Arnab Chaudhuri Director’s Award. Technology and Partners/Services are the two new categories added this year.
Here are the categories:
PROGRAMMING
- Best live action kids
- Best Preschool Show
- Best Animated Short Film
- Best Animated Full length Feature Film
- Best 3D animated series
- Best 2D animated series
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Best social media content animated
- Best Reel with the use of Animation
- Best social media presence by an Animation platform/ studio
DIGITAL/OTT
- Best Animated Full length Feature Film
- Best Animated Digital Series – 2d
- Best Animated Digital Series – 3d
- Best use of animation in a music video
- Best animated short film
MAM- MEDIA ADVERTISING AND MARKETING
- Best Animated Brand Film
- Best Digital Campaign for an Animated Series
- Best Brand Collaboration
- Best experiential marketing
- Best Innovative Campaign
- Best use of animated character in a brand TVC
- Best Promo
- Best Channel Packaging
TECHNICAL
- Best Character Design
- Best Animator – Male
- Best Animator – Female
- Best Director of an animated TV series
- Best Director of a digital series
- Best Voice Over Artist for a film – Male
- Best Voice Over Artist for a series
- Best Voice Over Artist for an animated TVC
- Best Director of an animated film
- Best Music Composer
- Best Title Song
- Best Title Design
- Best Screenplay writer
- Best Editing in an animated TV series
- Best Editing in an animated film
- Best Editing in an animated digital series
- Best Producer
- Best Production Coordinator
- Best Concept artist
- Best Dialogue writer
- Best Art director
- Best Background designer (Pre production)
- Best Modeller
- Best Storyboard artist
- Best Effects
- Best layout artist (Animation)
- Best Compositor
- Best Lightning artist
- Best Rigger
- Best Animated Project in Metaverse
SPECIAL AWARDS
- Young Animator of the year
- Best use of animation in a public service message
- Studio of the Year
- Best Syndicated Content
- India’s most loved animated character
- Contribution to Animation industry
- Popular Character (Global)
- Best ensemble in an animated series
- Best Indie Studio
- Animation Personality of the Year
- Best Bollywood inspired animated IP
STUDENT- SHORT FILM
- Best Student 3D film
- Best student 2D film
L&M – LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING
- Best animated character merchandise
- Best use of leveraging a character for Brand marketing
- Best platform for character licensed merchandise
- Best licensed animated series programme
- Best character manual design
- Best animated series merchandise
TECHNOLOGY
- Best Technical Innovation
- Best software used in animation
- Best Hardware used in animation
PARTNERS/SERVICE
- Best Preschool show
- Best Animated Short Film
- Best Animated Full length Feature Film
- Best animated series
- Best animated TVC
- Best Animated Digital Series
- Best Partnered Animation Work
- Best Character Design
- Best Editor in Animation
- Best Producer
- Best Production Coordinator
- Best Concept artist
- Best Art director
- Best Background designer (Pre production)
- Best Modeller
- Best Storyboard artist
- Best Effects
- Best layout artist (Animation)
- Best Compositor
- Best Lightning artist
- Best Rigger
- Best Animator – Male
- Best Animator – Female
The Arnab Chaudhuri Director’s Awards has two sub categories. First one, ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Animation ACE Award’ for emerging directors who are making their mark with their brilliant boundary pushing work that has its own unique creative voice. The winner will be announced following a special selection committee deliberations. The second, ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Young Ace Award’, is for student directors who showcase innovative creative originality. For the Ram Mohan Award, the awardee is nominated by the advisory board members & Ann Award jury members.
To qualify for the awards, the work/videos should have been running/live for public viewing, between the period of 1 April 2022 to 31 july 2023. The content of the videos released/launched shall be in English and/or any other Indian regional language.
The entry fee for the Broadcasters & OTT platforms is Rs 3000 plus taxes and the Student’s need to pay Rs 2000 plus taxes. In case of five or more entries, there is a five percent discount and if there are 10 or more Entries, one can get a 10 percent discount.
To know more about the Registration process, check: Ann Awards 2023.