The European Animation Awards (EAA), nicknamed the Emiles, are returning for a third edition in Lille, France. The prospective date for the ceremony is Friday, December 6. Moreover, a few significant changes are in the pipeline, as the EAA board announced during last week’s Annecy Festival.
The awards were launched in 2017 to celebrate the European animation industry’s “doers”: not just its auteurs, but also its commissioners, composers, character animators, and so on. Unusually, the winners are decided not by a jury but by the organization’s members. Anybody living in Europe with a connection to the industry can become a member for €20 — but as of this year, students can join for free.
As it strives to strike a balance between forms of animation, and between regions of Europe, the board has announced a few more tweaks to the set-up. Short films accounted for only four of the 18 categories last year, but a new one will join them this year: Best Character Animation in a Short Film. Peter Lord, EAA president and Aardman co-founder, also confirmed that the 2020 edition will be elsewhere in Europe. It has been noted that Eastern Europe is somewhat underrepresented at the Emiles; whether the ceremony will move there remains to be seen.
