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Animation Xpress drew curtains to the fourth edition of Animation & More Summit and Ann Awards on 13 September. The rebranded edition of the Kids, Animation & More (KAM) Summit was followed by the grand gala award ceremony titled Ann Awards bringing together students and the most esteemed professionals from the sector to celebrate and recognise the talent behind the Indian animation industry.
The AM Summit 2023 and Ann Awards was powered by 88 Pictures and co-powered by Zebu Animation. The creative technology partner was Autodesk; and Powerkids Entertainment, the lanyard and badges partner. The associate partners were Karco, ARK infosolutions and Moho. The support partners of the event are ETV Bal Bharat, Sony YAY!, Wacom, Eizo, Reliance Animation, Appu Series and Huion. DigiCon6 Asia was the event’s festival partner.
The jury for the Ann awards included: Charuvi Design Labs founder/director Charuvi P. Agrawal, CAKE production VP Ciara Breslin, Joan Vogelesang Consultants consultant Joan Vogelesang, Parle Products senior category head Krishnarao Buddha, Saffronic studio director Prabhakar Sambandan, MPC (Technicolor Creative Studio, India) creative director – VFX Rajarajan Ramakrishnan, Paperboat Design Studios founder and chairman Soumitro Ranade, Reliance Animation CEO Tejonidhi Bhandare, and AnimationXpress founder, chairman, editor-in-chief Anil NM Wanvari.
Last year, AnimationXpress in association with Graphiti Multimedia instituted the “Ram Mohan Award For Excellence in Animation” in honour of the father of Indian animation – Late Padma Shri Ram Mohan. This year, late Ram Mohan’s wife Sheila Rao, Graphiti Multimedia CEO & co-founder Tilak Shetty, COO & co-founder Munjal Shroff and Wanvari felicitated the recipient of the second edition of the prestigious Ram Mohan award: UID, Gandhinagar and New Delhi adjunct professor Prakash Moorthy, for his significant contribution to the Indian animation industry.
Continuing the tradition, like previous editions, AnimationXpress hosted “The Arnab Chaudhuri Director’s Award” instituted in memory of creative genius and champion of the Indian animation industry, the late Arnab Chaudhuri. The winner of “The Arnab Chaudhuri Animation ACE Award” was Neeraja Raj, who received a digital tablet from the support partner Huion. Raj, whose amazing body of work left everyone impressed, is a film director and writer at Nexus Studios.
And for the second category “The Arnab Chaudhuri Young Ace Award,” Gaurav Pati emerged as its winner. Pati is pursuing his undergraduate in animation filmmaking from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Along with this award, Pati got a cash prize of Rs 30,000 from Ashima Avasthi, Vaibhav Studios and Animation Xpress. Along with this, he got an official license of Moho – a 2D animation software, from the event’s associate partner ARK InfoSolutions.
The Arnab Chaudhuri awardees were decided by an eminent committee consisting of people who worked closely with Arnab during his short lifetime. The committee consisted of: Srishti Manipal Institute of Art Design and Technology consultant, UPES School of Design distinguished professor Nina Sabnani; The Walt Disney Company Europe & Africa original programming, animation, media networks VP Orion Ross; filmmaker, animator & UCLAN part time animation lecturer Pete Bishop; UID, Gandhinagar and New Delhi adjunct professor Prakash Moorthy; On Air Promos Sdn Bhd creative director Rob Middleton, Anil NM Wanvari and Chaudhuri’s wife Ashima Avasthi.
Here’s the complete list of the nominees and the winners of Ann Awards 2023:
Best Animated Digital Series – 2D
Best Animated Digital Series – 3D
Best Use of Animation in a Music Video
Best Animated Short Film
Best Animated Full Length Feature Film
Best Animated Character Merchandise
Best Use of Leveraging a Character for Brand Marketing
Best Licensed Animated Series Programme
Best Channel Packaging
Best Digital Campaign for an Animated Series
Best Experiential Marketing
Best Use of Animated Character in a Brand TVC
Best Animated Brand Film
Best Brand Collaboration
Best Innovative Campaign
Best Promo
Best 2D Animated Series
Best 3D animated series
Best Preschool Show
Best Animated Project in Metaverse
Best Music Composer
Best Title Song
Best Title Design
Best Character Design
Best Production Coordinator
Best Compositor
Best Modeller
Best Editing in an Animated Film
Best Screenplay Writer
Best Dialogue Writer
Best Producer
Best Director of an Animated TV Series
Best Director of a Digital Series
Best Director of an Animated Film
Best Animator – Male
Best Hardware Used in Animation
Best Software Used in Animation
Best Technical Innovation
Best Effects
Best Storyboard Artist
Best Concept Artist
Best Art Director
Best Animated TVC
Best Animated Digital Series
Best Animated Series
Best Partnered Animation Work
Best Reel With The Use of Animation
Best Social Media Content – Animated
Best Social Media Presence by an Animation Platform/Studio
Best Student 2D Film
Best Student 3D Film
Best Syndicated Content
Best Use of Animation in a Public Service Message
India’s Most Loved Animated Character
Popular Character (Global)
Best Bollywood Inspired Animated IP
Best Ensemble in an Animated Series
Young Animator of The Year
Hall of Fame 2023
Contribution to the Animation Industry
Animation Personality of the Year
Best Indie Studio
Studio of the Year
Ann Awards 2023 recognised and honoured the brilliant creative minds behind the amazing animated content that is being produced.
