Winners Unveiled for Young Animator of the Year UK at Manchester Animation Festival

• YAY UK competition winners, the upcoming animation stars, got their moment to glow as their works premiered at Manchester Animation Festival held on 12th November.
• This innovative initiative, organized by ACCESS: VFX, ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund, and 3Dami, offers a platform to young animators between 11 and 18 years old to showcase their animation prowess.
• The YAY UK initiative is a yearly program that actively nurtures and places young, talented animators on the map by giving them an opportunity to submit their creations.

The Year of Animation Prodigies: Showcasing New Animation Talent

The Future is Bright for the Animation Industry

Animation is no child’s play, but apparently, it’s a teenager’s! The Young Animator of the Year UK competition has once again shown us that talent can pop out from unexpected corners… or ages. I mean, can you imagine creating award-winning animations while struggling to balance homework and the havoc that hormones wreak at the same time?

Well, these winners certainly can, and have! And all of this was possible thanks to our superheroes without capes – ACCESS: VFX, ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund, and 3Dami, nurturing and boosting these greenhorns’ skills.

So, put the kettle on and pull up a chair. This is ‘Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work’ taken to the next level. From our side, we’re keener than ever to see this next generation of animators stretching their creative muscles and giving old Disney a run for his money. Bring it on, kiddos!

UK’s Top Young Animators Unleashed (YAY UK) revealed this year’s victors on Sunday 12^th November, with a special premiere event at the Manchester Animation Festival. Hosted by ACCESS:VFX, ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund and 3Dami, the YAY UK platform invites creative youth aged 11-18 to submit their animated masterpieces to their annual awards. This program’s aim is to offer hands-on industry experience and advice to a range of upcoming animators from within the realms of animation, gaming and VFX.

The entrants submit their original creations into one of six categories, split by age and medium of animation. The winners of this year have not only had their work critiqued by industry professionals, but will also get exclusive studio tours at leading members of ACCESS:VFX, such as Aardman, Blue Zoo and Axis.

This year’s award-winning standouts include:

• Best Stop-Motion Animator Aged 11-14; Nuk Jansen, Edinburgh, Age 14
• Best 2D Animator Aged 11-14; Pavlos Xenophontos, London, Age 14
• Best 3D Animator Aged 11-14; Jeremiah Achene, Derby, Age 14
• Best Stop-Motion Animator Aged 15-18; Ben Mullan, Bedford, Age 18
• Best 2D Animator Aged 15-18; Thomas Langridge, London, Age 17
• Best 3D Animator Aged 15-18; Euan Garbut, Glasgow, Age 16

In regards to this year’s submissions, ILM’s Emerging Talent Specialist and judge of the program, Amy Backwell praised the quality and variety of the short films. She disclosed the impressive visuals and realistic content in the entries, excited about the improvement of talent each year.

The budding animators were challenged over the summer by industry experts across top UK animation and VFX studios. As part of the YAY UK program, they were encouraged to use open source software that is standard in the industry, refining skills that can be directly transferred to future careers.

Reflecting upon this year’s competition, co-organiser of YAY UK, Tom Box, mentioned the jaw-dropping creativity and endless potential of the teenage animators. It was a challenge for the industry judges to select the winners from the high-quality entries. Tom expressed his delight over awarding the trophies at Manchester Animation Festival.

The winning films from 2023 and all previous years can be viewed on the YAY UK website here.

Original article: https://www.skwigly.co.uk/young-animator-of-the-year-uk-showcases-talent-in-next-generation-of-animators/