The finalists have been announced for the British Animation Awards 2024.
Now in its 28th year, this year’s BAA ceremony is being held at London’s BFI Southbank on 7th March 2024. Presented by the German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn, the awards will unveil the latest names to join the list of illustrious winners from past years which includes Nick Park, Joanna Quinn, Tim Burton, Martin Freeman, Simon Tofield and Gorillaz.
Competing for the Best Feature Film category are Aardman Animation’s latest blockbuster for Netflix Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (dir: Sam Fell), A Cat Called Dom, Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s inventive film about a son dealing with his mother’s cancer diagnosis; Lupus Films’ hand-drawn animated feature film based on Michael Morpurgo’s classic adventure story about a boy washed up on a seemingly deserted island, Kensuke’s Kingdom (dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry); Cartoon Saloon and Dog Ear’s Netflix feature about an island and its avian inhabitants facing the perils of climate change – Puffin Rock and the New Friends (dir: Jeremy Purcell); and Sky Cinema’s fantasy comedy feature based on the Terry Pratchett novel about a streetwise cat and his gang of rats, The Amazing Maurice (dir: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann).
The Best Long Form category will be battled out between The Illuminated Film Company’s special about Edinburgh Zoo’s famous brown bear A Bear Named Wojtek (dir. Iain Gardner); Bad Robot/NoneMore Productions’ Oscar-winning short about the unexpected friendship between The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (dir. Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy); Blink Industry’s animated re-telling of the classic story Peter and the Wolf by musicians Gavin Friday and Bono (dir. Stephen McNally, Elliot Dear); and Lupus Films’ festive hand-drawn animation, Mog’s Christmas (dir. Robin Shaw).
The Best Short Film award will be contested by Christopher at Sea by Tom C J Brown, The Debutante by Elizabeth Hobbs and All Gucci My Broski by Harry Plowden.
ITV series dominate the Best Children’s Series award with contenders including The Sound Collector – Harp Strings, The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Moonbreaker and Lloyd of the Flies. Channel Five’s Milkshake!’s Tweedy and Fluff completes the nominations.
Up for the Best Animation in a Commercial award are Blown Away for Admiral, The Great British Bake Off Official Trailer for Channel 4 and The Lords of Water for The Lords of Water.
Meanwhile, animated films Carry You for Ruelle, Tell Me Where to Go for JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown and Late Nights for DeathbyRomy/Adult Swim are competing for Best Music Video.
In the Best Children’s Pre-School category, Hey Duggee, The Adventures of Paddington, The Very Small Creatures and Odo are battling it out while the category for Best International Animated Series will be fought out between Captain Fall, Milo, The Tiny Chef Show and Supa Team 4.
The Best Factual Award will be contested by Jeremy, My Father by Miranda Peyton Jones, Something More by Mary Martins, Another Presence by Simon Ball and A Taste for Music by Jordan Antonowicz-Behnan.
And for work not deemed to fit easily into existing categories, nominations for the Wildcard category include: The Beatles Vs The Stones (Andrew Kelleher), Two Gracious Uncles Smooched to the Beat (Jon Dunleavy) and Hairy Houdini (Trevor Hardy).
The Social Good award sees nominations for: Change the Ending, a film directed by againstallodds for Alzheimer’s Research UK; Ask Me How I Am, a film about young people’s experience of self-harm directed by Zan Barberton and Joseph Clark for mental heal charity Fullscope; and Inner Polar Bear, a film exploring the implications of climate change by Gerald Conn.
In the Best Original Music category, the nominations are Stuart Hancock for Kensuke’s Kingdom, 2022 winners Beth Porter and Ben Please for Tweedy & Fluff and David Arnold for Mog’s Christmas.
The Writer’s Award nominees are Andrew Barnett Jones and Ciaran Murtagh for Lloyd of the Flies: Gummy Goes Off, Frank Cottrell-Boyce for Kensuke’s Kingdom, Edward Foster for The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Olden Days and Hamish Steele for Dead End: Paranormal Park – 210 The Watcher’s Test.
Meanwhile, the Best Design award nominations are for Ms Marvel, Odo and Puffin Rock and the New Friends (dir. Jeremy Purcell). And the Best Use of Sound will be contested by Kensuke’s Kingdom, The Smeds and the Smoos and The Sound Collector – Harp Strings.
BAA Director Helen Brunsdon and Producer Kieran Argo said: “Despite a myriad of changes and challenges facing the animation industry in the UK over the last couple of years, the sector remains thriving and productive. The quality and quantity of the work submitted to the BAAs is evidence of the dedication and creative ingenuity of all who work in animation and is a great indication of how UK animation continues to punch above its bodyweight on the world stage.”
Full details of all the finalists are below:
Best Design
Ms. Marvel – Head Creative: Ian Spendloff, Lead Designer: David Lochhead
ODO – Mum – Dir: Piotr Szczepanowicz, Mikolaj Pilchowski, Art directors Alicja Gapińska, Natalia Garbaciak
Puffin Rock and The New Friends – Dir: Jeremy Purcell, Art director Design team
Best Use of Sound
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry, Sound designer: Will Cohen
The Smeds and The Smoos – Dir: Daniel Snaddon, Samantha Cutler, Sound designer: Adrian Rhodes
The Sound Collector – Harp Strings – Dir: Chris Tichborne, Sound: Tom Angell
Best Factual Award
Jeremy, my Father – Dir: Miranda Peyton Jones
Something More – Dir: Mary Martins
Another Presence – Dir: Simon Ball
A Taste For Music – Dir: Jordan Antonowicz-Behnan
Best Voice Performance
Mog’s Christmas – Dir: Robin Shaw, Key Cast: Adjoa Andoh, Zawe Ashton, Amelie Law, Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Charlie Higson, Miriam Margolyes, Teddy Skelton, Maggie Steed
The Amazing Maurice – Dir: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann, Key Cast: Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel, Ariyon Bakare, David Tennant, Gemma Arterton, Hugh Bonneville, Rob Brydon, Julie Atherton
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Dir: Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy, Key Cast: Jude Coward Nicoll, Tom Hollander, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne
Best Undergraduate Film
The Moonseeker – Dir: Diana Blázquez Martín, Katherine Galley
hyposoMIAOW – Dir: Yunxin Zou
Cortex – Dir: Sena Miyazaki
Best Postgraduate Film
Death of The Gods – Dir: Leto Stojanovic Meade
Spring Roll Dream – Dir: Mai Vu
The Wolf of Custer – Dir: Tanya J Scott
Crab Day – Dir: Ross Stringer
Writers Award
Lloyd of the Flies – Gummy Goes Off – Writers: Andrew Barnett Jones and Ciaran Murtagh, Dirs: Matthew Walker, Jane Davies
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Frank Cottrell-Boyce Dir – Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry
The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Olden Days -Writer and Dir Edward Foster
Dead End: Paranormal Park – 210 The Watcher’s Test – Writer: Hamish Steele, Dir:Liz Whittaker
Lamb Award
Beatriz Diosdado Masa – Blue Zoo
Aiesha Penwarden – Skylark Films/Big Squid Ink Ltd.
Malachi James – Blue Zoo
Best Children’s Pre-School Series
Hey Duggee- The Music Video Badge – Dir: Grant Orchard, Sander Jones
The Very Small Creatures (series 2) – Dir: Lucy Izzard
ODO – Mum – Dir: Piotr Szczepanowicz, Mikolaj Pilchowski
The Adventures of Paddington (series 3) – Dir: Adam Shaw, Chris Drew
Best Children’s Series
Tweedy & Fluff – Dir: Chris Randall
The Sound Collector – Harp Strings – Dir: Chris Tichborne
The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Moonbreaker – Dir: Edward Foster
Lloyd of the Flies – Dir: Matthew Walker, Jane Davies
Children’s Choice
Dead End: Paranormal Park – Dir: Liz Whitaker
Supertato – Dir: Dominic Minns
The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe – The Prince and the Valiant Quest – Dir: Eva Lee Wallberg, Christian Boving-Andersen
Lego City No Limits – (episode 6) – Dir: Ben Steer
Cutting Edge
Beware of Trains – Dir: Emma Calder
Silly Duck: Dir Alec Smith
Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway – Dir: Bram Ttwheam, Finbar Hawkins
The Line Experiments – Dir: Antoine Perez
Best Music Video
Carry You by Ruelle– Dir: Flora Caulton
Tell Me Where To Go by JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown– Dir: Peter Beatty, Joseph Boyle
Late Nights’ Music Video – Dir: DEATHBYROMY & ADULT SWIM
Wildcard (Awarded to animations of any durations deemed as ‘extraordinary’)
The Beatles Vs The Stones – Dir: Andrew Kelleher
Two Gracious Uncles Smooched to the Beat – Dir: Jon Dunleavy
Hairy Houdini – Dir: Trevor Hardy
Best Original Music
Mog’s Christmas – Composer David Arnold Dir: Robin Shaw
Tweedy & Fluff – Composers Beth Porter and Ben Plea Dir: Chris Randall
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Composer Stuart Hancock Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry
Best Animation in a Commercial
Blown Away – Dir: Sarah McDonald
Channel 4: The Great British Bake Off 2023 Official Trailer – Dir: JuanPe Arroyo
The Lords of Water – Dir: Golden Wolf
Social Good Award
Alzheimer’s Research UK ‘Change The Ending – againstallodds
Ask me how I am – Dir: Zan Barberton, Joseph Clark
Inner Polar Bear – Dir: Gerald Conn
Best International Animated Series
Captain Fall – Dir: Adam Parton, Peter Merryman
Milo – Dir: Chris Capstick
The Tiny Chef Show – Dir: Rachel Larsen, Chris Tichborne
Supa Team 4 – Dir: David Osborne
Best Long Form Animation
A Bear Named Wojtek – Dir: Iain Gardner
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse – Dir: Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy
Peter and the Wolf – Dir: Stephen McNally, Elliot Dear
Mog’s Christmas – Dir: Robin Shaw
Best Feature Film
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – Dir: Sam Fell
A Cat Called Dom – Dir: Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry
Puffin Rock and The New Friends – Dir: Jeremy Purcell
The Amazing Maurice – Dir: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann
Best Short Form
Christopher at Sea – Dir: Tom CJ Brown
The Debutante – Dir: Elizabeth Hobbs
All Gucci My Broski – Dir: Harry Plowden
Jon Creamer
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