Grand-Prize Winner Selected in First-Ever Nicktoons Film Festival

Grand-Prize Winner Selected in First-Ever Nicktoons Film Festival Nicktoons, Frederator Studios and Animation Magazine Award $10,000 Prize to Budding Filmmakers in Conclusion of 13-Week Series NEW YORK, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Nicktoons, Nickelodeon's digital channel for the next generation of animation, Frederator Studios and Animation Magazine this week made the final selections of winners and runners-up from the Nicktoons Film Festival. Filmmakers Mark Simon and Travis Blaise from Orlando, FL, were awarded the $10,000 Grand Prize for their short film, "Timmy's Lessons in Nature," a 2-D animated, comedic look at what not to do in the wild outdoors. Presented with the Producers' Choice Award and a prize of animation software was Elizabeth Ito for "Welcome to My Life." Eight finalists were also chosen from the hundreds of entries received for the network's first-ever film festival. "'Timmy's Lessons in Nature' is an excellent example of getting the most out of very little," said Nicktoons Film Festival judge Eric Goldberg, Animation Director for Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes: Back in Action. "The character designs were intrinsically funny -- half the battle in making an audience laugh -- and the timing of the gags is superb." The Nicktoons Film Festival showcased the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe. Animators were asked to submit animated shorts no longer than seven minutes that combined a unique look, great character designs and a funny plot. The winners are as follows: Grand Prize Winner: * Timmy's Lessons in Nature by Mark Simon and Travis Blaise, Orlando, FL Producers' Choice Award Winner: * Welcome to My Life by Elizabeth Ito, Los Angeles, CA Finalists: * Charlie and Chunk by Eric Fogel, Rockville Centre, NY * April by Jiwook Kim, Valencia, CA * Bert by Moonsung Lee, White Plains, NY * Skippy by Amanda Spalinski, Valencia, CA * Robot Family: The Slick Salesman by Chris Harding, Prairie Village, KS * Medusa: The First Date by Pierce Davison, Leederville, Australia * Kenya by Jonti Picking, London, England * Polygon Family 2 by Hiroshi Chida, Tokyo, Japan "We're excited to recognize and reward up-and-coming filmmakers for such creative and outstanding work," said Keith Dawkins, Vice President and General Manager, Nicktoons. "We had an overwhelming response from the call for entries for our Nicktoons Film Festival and we look forward to continuing this project and finding the next generation of talent in the years to come." "The filmmakers in the Nicktoons Film Festival represent the most original cartoons in the world, and we're proud to offer them a national showcase," commented Fred Seibert, President of Frederator Studios and Executive Producer of the Festival. "We congratulate the winners and look forward to seeing their future work." "We screened hundreds of films from more than a dozen countries and our winners reflect the diversity of styles, influences and stories of today's global culture," said Rita Street, Managing Director of Radar Cartoons and Nicktoons Film Festival Producer. The panel of Grand Jurors for the Nicktoons Film Festival included: John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren & Stimpy; Gabor Csupo, founder and co-chairperson, Klasky Csupo; and Eric Goldberg, animation director for Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Fred Seibert, President of Frederator Studios is Executive Producer of the Festival; Rita Street, Managing Director of Radar Cartoons and Eric Homan, VP of Creative Affairs for Frederator Studios are the Festival Producers and Christina Vann of Nicktoons is Executive in Charge of Production. About Frederator Studios Frederator makes cartoons for television and the movies. Since its 1998 founding by former Hanna-Barbera Cartoons president Fred Seibert, Frederator Studios has become one of the industry's largest and most prolific independent cartoon studios. The company's debut production was Oh Yeah! Cartoons, an anthology of traditional seven-minute animated shorts by three dozen creators, for Nickelodeon. That project has so far spawned three hit series for the network (The Fairly OddParents, Chalk Zone and My Life as a Teenage Robot) and three features at Paramount. Frederator has more than 100 projects in active development and production for features, books, television, and video. About Animation Magazine Animation Magazine is a leading trade publication devoted to the coverage of the business, technology and art of animation. Reporting on all aspects of animation worldwide, Animation brings its readers -- both in print and online -- comprehensive stories on the latest in film and television production, games, commercials, visual effects and CG characters, as well as training in both hand-drawn and computer animation. Subscribers in 78 countries rely on Animation for insights into studio animation production and independent art. (http://www.animationmagazine.net/) About Nicktoons Nicktoons' 24-hour schedule features programming such as Corneil and Bernie and Kaput and Zosky, as well as a roster of hits that have defined kids' and animation lovers' TV, including The Angry Beavers, Yakkity Yak, Invader Zim, Ahhh! Real Monsters, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents and Jimmy Neutron. Nicktoons is part of the MTV Networks expanded suite of channels available for digital distribution. The new channels include MTV Hits, MTV Jams, Nicktoons and VH1 Mega Hits, expanding and strengthening MTV Networks' digital offerings to thirteen services. Source: Nicktoons CONTACT: Nancy Muldoon, +1-212-846-7491, or Nicole Mazer, +1-818-736-3613, both for Nicktoons Web site: http://www.nick.com/ http://www.animationmagazine.net/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment