First trio of Animex Awards judges announced

Three top judges in the industry have been announced for this year's Animex Awards.

Shelley Page from Dreamworks, Shuzo John Shiota from Polygon Pictures and Terrence Masson from Northeastern University, Boston.

Shelley joined the Richard Williams animation studio in 1982 as a background artist. In 1986 the Walt Disney company commissioned Richard Williams to direct the animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Shelley was appointed UK backgrounds supervisor. Following the success of Roger Rabbit, she joined Steven Spielberg's Amblimation Studio in London as background supervisor.

Her film credits include: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, An American Tail 2, We’re Back, Balto, The Prince Of Egypt, The Road To Eldorado, Antz, Shrek, Spirit and DreamWorks releases Sinbad and Shrek 2.

Shuzo John Shiota was appointed president and Chief Executive Officer of Polygon Pictures in June 2003. Polygon now houses over 150 staff members, and is renowned worldwide for its animation prowess as well as for its efficient production pipeline.

Polygon has created CG animation for films such as Innocence: Ghost in the Shell and Sky Crawlers, and is currently animating 65 episodes of an Emmy nominated TV series.

Terrence Masson, Director of Game Design at Northeastern University, Boston, came up through the ranks on 20 feature films including three Star Wars movies, Hook, True Lies and Interview with a Vampire. He is also well known for single-handedly developing the CG pipeline for SouthPark in 1996.

Every year Animex secures judges from around the world who are involved in the animation and computer games industries at the highest level. Panels from previous Awards have included representatives from PIXAR, ILM, Disney, Aardman Animation, Sony Image Works, DreamWorks and Electronic Arts, to name but a few.

Justin Greetham, senior Lecturer in visualisation and head of Animex Awards, says: 'If you are looking for a platform to help launch your career in animation then these awards are for you. You have until 1 November to get your entries in.'

www.animex.net

---