Canadian Screen Awards 2021 Animation Nominations

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television has announced their 2021 Canadian Screen Award nominations, which celebrate Canadian productions in roughly 140 categories across cinema, television, and digital media.

There’s no category for animated features, but the film section offers awards for animated short and visual effects. In the shorts category, three are productions by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB): 4 North A by Jordan Canning and Howie Shia, The Great Malaise by Catherine Lepage, and I, Barnabé by Jean-François Lévesque. The Fourfold by Alisi Telengut and student film Hot Flash by Thea Hollatz round out the list.

Hotel Transylvania: The Series and Corner Gas Animated lead the television nominees with five apiece. Corner Gas Animated also led last year with six nominations, winning three. TVOKid’s Paw Patrol follows with four nominations, same as last year where it proceeded to win all four.

In addition to the tv animation categories, there are also categories for visual effects in tv, as well as video games and immersive experiences. This year, the immersive experience category is split with two live-action projects and two animated ones, the latter being the NFB’s The Book of Distance by Randall Okita and In the Land of the Flabby Schnook by Francis Gélinas.

The awards will be presented over four days: May 17-20, 2021. The awards are in their 9th edition, but have been previously celebrated since 1949 as the Canadian Film Awards and Genie Awards.

Here are the nominees in the categories that exclusively or predominantly cover animation:

Best Animated Short

• 4 North A (Jordan Canning, Howie Shia, Annette Clarke)
• The Fourfold (Alisi Telengut)
• The Great Malaise/Le mal du siècle (Catherine Lepage, Marc Bertrand)
• Hot Flash (Thea Hollatz, Kristy Neville, Matt Code, Morghan Fortier, Brett Jubinville)
• I, Barnabé/Moi, Barnabé (Jean-François Lévesque, Julie Roy)

Achievement in Visual Effects, Film

• Blood Quantum (Joshua Sherrett, Barbara Rosenstein, Ibi Atemie, David Atexide, Juan Carlos Ferrá, Alex Flynn, Andrei Gheorghiu, Felix Sherrett-Brown, Ali Hamidikia, Tony Wu)
• Code 8 (Brian Huynh, William Chang, Steven Huynh, Sophia Jooyeon Lee, Justin Perreault)
• French Exit (Liam Neville, Kenneth Coyne, Piers Larchet, Rob Murray, Shane Browne, Dave Thomas, Mihail Dumbravestu, Allen Sillery, Christoph Gaudi, Michael McCarthy)
• Funny Boy (Peter McAuley, Michael Bishop, Derek Gebhart, Armen Bunag, Luke White, James Marin, Marco Polsinelli, Andrew Rolfe, Davor Celar)
• Laughter/Le rire (François Trudel, Cynthia Mourou)

Best Animated Program or Series

• Corner Gas Animated
  CTV Comedy (Bell Media)
  (Verite Films, Sparrow Media, Aslan Entertainment)
  Brent Butt, Virginia Thompson, David Storey, Andrew Carr, Marilyn McAuley, Robert de Lint, Jonas Diamond, Jensenne Roculan, Randy Lennox
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series
  Teletoon (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Jane Crawford, Suzie Gallo
• The Magic School Bus Rides Again: The Frizz Connection
  Netflix (Netflix)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Vince Commisso, Iole Lucchese, Jocelyn Stevenson, Blake Tohana, Michelle Awad, Nora Keely
• Snoopy In Space
  AppleTV+ (AppleTV+)
  (WildBrain)
  Josh Scherba, Anne Loi, Stephanie Betts, Paige Braddock, Craig Shulz, Mark Evestaff, Kimberly Small
• Wild Kratts
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (9 Story Media Group, the Kratt Brothers)
  Chris Kratt, Martin Kratt, Vince Commisso, Blake Tohana, Cheryl Knapp

Best Pre-School Program or Series

• Abby Hatcher
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Hatching Productions 2 Inc.)
  Jennifer Dodge, Ronnen Harary, Rob Hoegee, Jamie Whitney, Laura Clunie, Frank Falcone, Toni Stevens, Jonah Stroh, Dan Mokriy, Cynthia Taylor, David Watson
• Dino Dana
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Sinking Ship Entertainment)
  J.J. Johnson, Blair Powers, Christin Simms, Matthew J.R. Bishop
• Esme & Roy
  Treehouse TV (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Pam Westman, Amy Steinberg, Dustin Ferrer, Scott Dyer, Kay Wilson Stallings, Doug Murphy, Jane Crawford, Melanie Grisanti, Oliver Kane, Pamela Slavin, Melissa Graham, Rick Ritter
• Paw Patrol
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Paw Productions 7 Inc.)
  Jennifer Dodge, Ronnen Harary, Keith Chapman, Ursula Ziegler-Sullivan, Laura Clunie, Toni Stevens, Jonah Stroh, Dan Mokriy, Shayna Fine, Jason McKenzie, Pascale LeBlanc, David Sharples, Damian Temporale, Sarah Williams
• True and the Rainbow Kingdom
  CBC (CBC)
  (Guru Studio)
  Frank Falcone, Mary Bredin, Jeremy Larner, Bill Schultz, Mimi Valdés, Pharrell Williams, Dominique Bazay

Best Direction, Animation

• Abby Hatcher — “Fuzzly Beach Day”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Hatching Productions 2 Inc.)
  Kyran Kelly
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series — “What Lycidias Beneath”
  Teletoon (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Robin Budd
• The Magic School Bus Rides Again: The Frizz Connection
  Netflix (Netflix)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Rich Weston
• Paw Patrol — “Dino Rescue: Pups and the Lost Dino Eggs”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Paw Productions 7 Inc.)
  Charles E. Bastien
• True and the Rainbow Kingdom — “Friendship Day”
  CBC (CBC)
  (Guru Studio)
  Mark Thornton, Todd Kauffman

Best Writing, Animation

• Corner Gas Animated — “Pact Rat”
  CTV Comedy (Bell Media)
  (Verite Films, Sparrow Media, Aslan Entertainment)
  Andrew Carr
• Corner Gas Animated — “Pink Flood”
  CTV Comedy (Bell Media)
  (Verite Films, Sparrow Media, Aslan Entertainment)
  Brent Butt, Jennifer Goodhue
• Corner Gas Animated — “Remembers Only”
  CTV Comedy (Bell Media)
  (Verite Films, Sparrow Media, Aslan Entertainment)
  Brent Butt, Jennifer Siddle
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series — “What Lycidias Beneath”
  Teletoon (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Mark Steinberg
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum — “I am Harriet Tubman”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Desmond Sargeant, Meghan Read

Best Sound, Animation

• Abby Hatcher — “Fuzzly Beach Day”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Hatching Productions 2 Inc.)
  Brendan Quinn, Julian Rudd, Kevin Chamberlain, Scott McCrorie, Sebastian Biega
• The Magic School Bus Rides Again: The Frizz Connection
  Netflix (Netflix)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Dan Kuntz, Jack Carter
• Ollie’s Pack — “Ollie in the House” / “The Ollie Files”
  YTV (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Ryan Araki, Simon Berry, Sue Robinson
• Paw Patrol — Dino Rescue: Pups and the Lost Dino Eggs
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Paw Productions 7 Inc.)
  Richard Spence-Thomas, Kyle Peters, Patton Rodrigues, Ryan Ongaro, Timothy Muirhead, Mitch Connors, Luke Dante
• Snoopy In Space — Mission 6: Space Sleepwalking
  AppleTV+ (AppleTV+)
  (WildBrain)
  Jeff Davis, Fanny Riguidel, Stefan Seslija, Melanie Eng
• Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series — The First Time We Smoked Weed
  Netflix (Netflix)
  (TPB A2 Productions Inc.)
  Brian Power, Matt Dawson, Jeremy Van Slyke, Zander Rosborough, Graham Colwell

Best Visual Effects, Television

• A Bee’s Diary
  CBC (CBC)
  (Handful of Films Inc.)
  Greg Marshall, Karl Reichert, Mark Wong, Jordan Alaeddine, Amanda Grabenstetter
• Cardinal: Until The Night — “Robert”
  CTV (Bell Media)
  (Sienna Films / Entertainment One)
  Tom Plaskett, Lara Osland, Pavan Veeramaneni, Igor Garanovschii, Kevin Buessecker
  Terence Krueger, Mohsin Kazi, David Rezek, Ramin Pournavab, Sawyer Tomkinson-Hunnef
• Trickster — “Episode 104”
  CBC (CBC)
  (Sienna Films / Streel Films)
  Tom Plaskett, Tracy Grant, Dayna Pearce, Matt Philip, Mercedes Delgado, Janis Cudars
  Chris Doe, Adam Smith, Sawyer Tomkinson-Hunnef, Jay Stanners
• Utopia Falls — “The World Is Yours”
  CBC Gem (CBC)
  (Sonar Canada)
  Greg Behrens, Winston Lee, Dani Wall
• Vikings — “The Best Laid Plans”
  History (Corus Entertainment)
  (Take 5 Productions Inc.)
  Dominic Remane, Bill Halliday, Becca Donohoe, Leann Harvey, Tom Morrison, Ovidiu Cinazan
  Jim Maxwell, Ezra Waddell, Warren Lawtey, Maria Gordon

Best Original Music, Animation

• Corn & Peg — “Homesick Hotel” / “Camp Wanna Trotta”
  Treehouse TV (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Asher Lenz, Stephen Skratt
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series — “The Song Remains Asleep”
  Teletoon (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Asher Lenz, Stephen Skratt
• Let’s Go Luna! — “Monster Park” / “Meet the Strongs”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Ari Posner, Amin Bhatia, Kris Kuzdak, Chris Tait
• The Remarkable Mr. King — “Mr. King’s Machine” / “Mr. King’s Concert” / “Mr. King’s Turnip”
  Treehouse TV (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Neil Parfitt
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum — “I am Harriet Tubman”
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (9 Story Media Group)
  Meiro Stamm

Best Performance, Animation

• Alien TV
  Netflix (Netflix)
  (Entertainment One)
  Julie Lemieux
• Corner Gas Animated
  CTV Comedy (Bell Media)
  (Verite Films, Sparrow Media, Aslan Entertainment)
  Lorne Cardinal
• Esme & Roy
  Treehouse TV (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Patrick McKenna
• Hotel Transylvania: The Series
  Teletoon (Corus Entertainment)
  (Nelvana Limited)
  Bryn McAuley
• Paw Patrol
  TVOKids (TVO)
  (Spin Master Paw Productions 7 Inc.)
  Lilly Bartlam

Best Immersive Experience

• The Book of Distance
  (National Film Board of Canada)
  Randall Okita, David Oppenheim, Anita Lee
• The Holy City
  (Holy City VR)
  Nimrod Shanit, Sean Thomas Evans
• In the Land of the Flabby Schnook
  (couleur.tv)
  Francis Gélinas, Francis Monty, Catherine Cyr, Saule Gélinas, Lileina Joy, Monique Thomas, Daniel Judson, Michèle Paquin, Natasha Vallée-Martin, Olivier Rousseau, Maude Paré, Anne-Marie Robert, Christina Robinson, Gabrielle Leblanc, Marc-André Paquin, Mathieu Dufresne, Éric Guérin
• Space Explorers: The ISS Experience
  (Felix & Paul Studios)
  Felix Lajeunesse

Best Video Game

• Later Daters
  (Bloom Digital Media)
  Miriam Verburg
• LOVE — A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories
  (Rocketship Park)
  Jim Squires, Shane McCafferty
• Spiritfarer
  (9300-2665 Quebec Inc.(dba Thunder Lotus))
  Nicolas Guérin
• Star Renegades
  (Massive Damage Inc)
  Ken Seto
• We Happy Few: We All Fall Down
  (Compulsion Games)
  Alex Epstein, Lisa Hunter, Mark Slutsky

Images at top, left to right: “Hotel Transylvania: The Series,” “4 North A,” “In the Land of the Flabby Schnook.”