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Aliens, artists, and even an armadillo…just a handful of the skillfully crafted characters featured in this year’s entries to Animated Auckland. Auckland’s Town Hall recently came to life in hues of lime green and purple, as students and animation industry representatives were given the ‘green’ carpet treatment.

Aliens, artists, and even an armadillo…just a handful of the skillfully crafted characters featured in this year’s entries to Animated Auckland. Auckland’s Town Hall recently came to life in hues of lime green and purple, as students and animation industry representatives were given the ‘green’ carpet treatment.

On 13 July 2011, Auckland Council proudly hosted the fourth annual Animated Auckland award ceremony, celebrating Auckland’s 16 entries to the prestigious international Hamburg Animation Award.

The Hamburg Animation Award invites students and graduates from around the world to showcase their animation skills. As part of Auckland’s strategic alliance with Hamburg, an Auckland competition runs in parallel to the international event, profiling and encouraging Auckland’s up and coming animation talent.

This year’s Auckland judging panel selected two animations to receive awards for their innovative style and story and technical brilliance.

‘First Contact’, a Media Design School animation depicting aliens searching for other life forms in the universe, was awarded the Best Auckland Animation for its technical style.

The judges also awarded Mardo El-Noor as the Best Auckland Style and Story for his animation ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ where El-Noor portrays a witty truce discussion amongst three animated objects.

Both films were awarded prizes, with ‘First Contact’ receiving a workshop with an animator from leading international production company Nickelodeon, courtesy of Oktobor Animation and ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ receiving a software package valued at $1500 courtesy of Flux Animation Studios.

Keep an eye out for ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ which will be screened in this year’s Show Me Shorts film festival in November. All winners also received a 12-month membership to Film Auckland and Creative Digital Content Auckland.

‘Das Tub’, an animation by a student group from the Media Design School, deserves special mention for their Nomination for the Audience Award at the Hamburg awards ceremony.

Out of over 140 international entries, the Hamburg jury selected ‘Das Tub’ as one of ten films to be screened at the Hamburg Award Ceremony and at a special public screening in Hamburg.

This year’s ‘Animated Auckland’ event showcased a fantastic array of Auckland’s animation talent. The continued achievement of entries in the Hamburg competition demonstrates Auckland’s competitiveness on a world stage.

Auckland and Hamburg signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007 to encourage best practice learning and to support opportunities for growth in key sectors, particularly in the areas of creative industries, bioscience and education. From the outset of the strategic alliance, a special focus has been placed on the screen production industry.