(Toronto, ON, July 28, 2011) — TELETOON Canada inc. announced today the five finalists in each of its English and French contests for the TELETOON at Night Pilot Project. The contest concept was taken from the original TELETOON Pilot Project and turned into an online, user-generated contest. The initiative called on aspiring and professional animators to put their creative skills to use for a chance to win $10,000 CDN and the opportunity to attend North America’s largest animation conference and festival, the Television Animation Conference and Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Finalists, for both English and French contests, will have their short films featured at a late night screening during the Ottawa International Film Festival on Saturday, September 23, 11 p.m. at the Arts Court Theatre.

The top five finalists for both contests are:

TELETOON at Night Pilot Project

Gotcha – Sandra Loke, Stoney Creek, Ontario

Samurai Terrorist – Matthew Viveen, Cambridge, Ontario

Great Minds Taste Alike – Sheryl Vedamani, Vancouver, British Columbia

The Kitten Factory – Henry Budd, Burnaby, British Columbia

Off the Wall – Robert Nisperos, Richmond, British Columbia

TELETOON la Nuit Projet Pilote

Les Imbroglios – Jonathan Savoie, Montréal, Quebec

Jean-Paul – Fred Pitteloud, Montréal, Quebec

La justici̬re rose РPhilippe Ramsay Gaudreau, Lemoyne, Quebec

Cobaye en fuite – Steve Ouellette, Montréal, Quebec

Swing Carl – Beauchemin, Montréal, Quebec

“We are thrilled with all of the amazing, creative, funny, weird and sometimes disturbing submissions received for the TELETOON at Night Pilot Project,” said Russell Ward, Vice-President, Marketing, TELETOON Canada. “It proves just how much incredible talent is out there within the Canadian animation world and we are honoured to open a door and give exposure to these budding and professional animators.”

Fans can vote for their favourite English-language finalists on teletoonatnight.com and teletoonlanuit.com for the French-language contest. The video that receives the most votes by Sunday, August 28 will be crowned the winner and revealed on-air and online on Sunday, September 18.

The grand prize winner of each English and French contest will be awarded:

· $10,000 CDN

· Two roundtrip airline tickets from the closest Canadian commercial airport to the winner’s residence to Ottawa

· Four nights accommodation in Ottawa

· Two delegate passes to the Television Animation Conference and Ottawa International Animation Festival

For contest rules and more information on the TELETOON at Night Pilot Project, please visit teletoonatnight.com or teletoonlanuit.com.

The original TELETOON Pilot Project launched in fall 2007, exclusively inviting Canadian producers to submit proposals to produce a pilot in either English or French to be broadcast on TELETOON. Ten projects were selected as finalists from over 200 submissions, straddling a wide range of topics, animation styles and comedy sensibilities. TELETOON recently announced that the first TELETOON Pilot Project winner, Fugget About It, has been officially greenlit for production into a 13-part series in English and French.

TELETOON at Night is a special programming block on TELETOON for older teens and adult audiences who have an appetite for smart and culturally topical comedy shows. Available in both English and French, TELETOON Canada inc. brings kids, youth and adults the best in animated and animation-related entertainment with four nationwide specialty television channels — TELETOON, TÉLÉTOON, TELETOON Retro and TÉLÉTOON Rétro — and select programming is also available On Demand, Mobile TV, iTunes and teletoon.com. Founded in 1997, TELETOON Canada inc. is owned by Astral (50%) and Corus Entertainment (50%). For more information, please visit www.teletoon.com.

Chris Arrant

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