Animation, Motion Design Veterans Team To Launch The Collision Awards
A group of entertainment industry executives behind the long-standing Telly Awards are teaming with animation and motion graphic industry professionals to launch the Collision Awards. Planned for July of this year, the awards’ inaugural edition is now accepting submissions.
Who is running these awards? The Collision Awards are founded by the team of executives that run the Telly Awards, which have honored tv (and more recently streaming) productions since 1979. Several media outlets and event organizers have teamed up with the awards, including Animation Magazine, Animation World Network, Animation Nights New York, Motion Plus Design, SIGGRAPH ACM London, Skwigly, Stash Magazine, View Conference, and Wetransfer.
Randeep Katari has been named general manager of the awards. He most recently served as a creative manager at Netflix, overseeing animated films and series. He has also spent time at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Nickelodeon, and NBC/Universal. A full list of the Collision Awards’ founding jury is available at the bottom of this piece.
What categories will the Collision Awards cover? The Collision Awards stand out for the tremendous quantity and breadth of awards on offer. In total, six main categories are divided into several subcategories, each of which includes dozens of awards. A full list can be found here, but the six main categories are:
- Marketing & Communications
- Commercials
- Television
- Film
- Experiential
- Games & XR
In total, the Collision Awards offer more than 300 prizes. That starkly contrasts the Annies, the animation industry’s long-standing leading awards ceremony, which has 32 categories.
Who can enter? The awards are open to productions featuring animation and motion design work from around the world that were produced sometime in the last two years, between January 1, 2022 and the final submission deadline of April 19, 2024. There is no limit to the number of entries a single artist can submit, but there is a submission cost for each entry.
What does it cost? The cost to submit a candidate to the Collision Awards varies depending on the type of work and the timing of the submission. Early deadline prices, good through March 8, are $225 for general entries, $275 for series/campaigns, $50 for students, and $125 for experimental. By comparison, early bird entry fees to the Annies run $150.00 for most works and $50 for student submissions.
When are the awards, and how will they be distributed? Winners will be revealed in July. Organizers tell us they have not yet finalized whether the ceremony will be held in-person or online. This is another major difference between the Collision Awards and the Annies, which host a prestigious in-person event each year.
What are they saying? Stephen Price, executive editor of Collision Awards partner organization Stash Magazine, said in a release:
I’m most excited for the people behind the animation and motion design industry to finally have a world-class awards show designed specifically for them – and most importantly, to have those awards created and managed by the team who built The Telly Awards into a household name. Scale and gravitas matter, and The Collision Awards already feel like they have both.
Collision Awards general manager Randeep Katari added:
Helping lead an organization that’s dedicated to celebrating animation, motion design, and the community of creatives within it allows us to spotlight undiscovered stories and underrecognized talents all around the world. The Collision Awards are collaborating with leaders in the industry to set a standard of excellence and share how animation can inspire, connect and entertain on a truly global scale.
Who picks the Collision Awards winners? Collision Award founding jurors are Kev Cheah (partner, Brunswick), Sarah Cox (executive creative director, Aardman), Marge Dean (head of Skybound Animation Studio and President of Women in Animation), Ronnie del Carmen (co-director and writer of Pixar’s Inside Out), Melinda Dilger (global dead of animation production, Film/TV at Riot Games), Maureen Fan (CEO, Baobab Studios), Angela Foster (executive producer of Animation at Partizan), Jinko Gotoh (producer, Finding Nemo), Jay Grandin (co-founder, Giant Ant), Jorge Gutierrez (creator, Maya and the Three), Julie Lockhart (co-founder, Locksmith Animation), Andrew Millstein (co-head, Annapurna Animation), Mike Moloney (founder, Art&Graft), Gilles Monteil (Ubisoft), Ramsey Naito (president, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation), Claire Renton (animation director, Ludo Studio), Phil Rynda (director of original animation, The Pokemon Company International) and Fred Volhuer (co-founder, Atlas V Group).