Become an animated judge

Animated films such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story and Wallace and Gromit enjoy international success and critical recognition. The professional animators who work behind the scenes constantly amaze viewers with their skills and expertise and The University of Teesside is helping the next generation of animators get their work seen.

The Animex International Student Animation Awards saw more than 400 short animated films from around 30 countries judged by a panel of animation industry experts.

Now The University of Teesside is offering the public the opportunity to be a judge by taking part in the Animex Audience Awards.

Animex is the annual festival of animation and computer games organised by the University of Teesside, now in its seventh year.

The winners were announced at the Animex Festival in February, with one important exception – the award chosen by the public.

Justin Greetham, Senior Lecturer in Visualisation and organiser of the Animex International Student Animation Award, said: “We are extremely fortunate to call upon the expertise of a judging panel that consisted of representatives from established studios such as Aardman Animation, Dreamworks, Sony ImageWorks and Studio AKA. The aim of Audience Award on the other hand is to give the general public an opportunity to vote for their favourite animation and I would encourage anyone with an interest in computer animation or computer games to take part in this unique scheme.”

Xavier Aliot from France won the 3D Character Animation award and was named runner up in the 3D computer animation award at this year’s Animex festival for his film Exit. He said: “I really want to thank you all for giving us these two awards. When I saw the results, I swear, I thought my heart wanted to get outside of my body, and I'm sure it's the same for my friends! It's so amazing and great for little French students like us to win a prize in Animex in England!

“That means you recognised the quality of our work and that means all our teachers, family and friends were right to push us on this way, the way of our dreams! This is our second participation in Animex and we were so glad to be participant and screened in such a big festival! It is a great honour and we really want to thank you all and the whole Animex staff for give us the chance to be seen by thousands of people.”

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