MyToons.com, the premier online animation community, will mark its first anniversary by collaborating with Adobe to deliver content to Adobe Media Player. High-quality, member-created animations from MyToons.com, along with video from television broadcasters and leading content publishers, will now be available on Adobe Media Player.

Adobe Media Player is a lightweight, revolutionary desktop application that allows viewers to watch content online or download and view their favorite videos and shows offline, all with full-screen playback. Viewers can subscribe to their favorite shows or podcasts and automatically receive new episodes as they become available.

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This category of the Prix Ars Electronica is open to:
works of 2D or 3D computer animation, digital short films and narratives, character animation, abstract CG animation, scientific visualizations, commercials, music videos, visual effects, CG for the creative manipulation or enhancement of live action scenes, real-time CG, game cutscenes, machinima, generative visuals, etc.

CATEGORIES

• COMPUTER ANIMATION / FILM / VFX
• INTERACTIVE ART
• DIGITAL MUSIC
• HYBRID ART
• DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
• u19 – FREESTYLE COMPUTING
• MEDIA.ART.RESEARCH AWARD

For entry details, please visit www.aec.at

SAN ANTONIO–February 6, 2008–MyToons.com, the premier online animation community, today announced that it has inked a deal with video site YouTube to showcase the creative work of thousands of animators on the new MyToons branded YouTube channel.

Launched last March at the prestigious SouthXSouthwest Festival in Austin, Texas, MyToons.com provides a global platform for animators to design and share their original animated videos, cartoons, and other content with animators and animation enthusiasts throughout the world.

“We have thousands of animators utilizing our free upload and streaming system to broadcast their work to the world,” said Paul Ford, co-founder and president of MyToons.com. “Our new channel with YouTube provides tremendous new exposure for our artists and enhances our ability to extend the MyToons brand, as well as to reach a broader consumer base with which to share high quality original animations.”

MyToons.com, dedicated to “everything animated,” offers both professional and amateur animators a platform to reach a world-wide web of talented animators, industry specialists and fans alike.

“YouTube is an important step on the road to much wider distribution for MyToons and our animation community members”,” said Ford. “We’re always focused on providing additional enhancements to give our animators even greater exposure.”

MyToons further supports the animation community through contests and events, as well as sponsorships. This week MyToons is a Silver Sponsor of the International Animated Film Society’s (ASIFA) 35th Annual Annie Awards, which will take place on Friday, February 8, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles. The Annual Annie Awards recognizes the highest honors awarded for excellence in animation. ASIFA was founded by a group of professional animators in 1957 and encourages the preservation and extension of the art of animation, which mirrors MyToons’ philosophy and mission.

About MyToons

Based in San Antonio, MyToons.com was established in 2006 as an online resource and entertainment destination for professional and student animators, industry executives, artists and fans. Founded by industry leaders Paul Ford, Dan Kraus and Stacey Ford, MyToons.com is currently aligning with content creators and well-known industry personalities to provide the highest quality and best variety of online content and services for MyToons.com.

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MyToons is a trademark of MyToons, Inc. All rights reserved. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

About YouTube

YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, Calif., and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.

American Illustration and American Photography – the award winning, large format, beautifully designed and printed hardcover annuals offer high visibility and recognition where it matters most. Both are the exclusive source for assignment and commissioned work.

Your work will be seen by a jury made up of top creative professionals, art directors, photo editors, art buyers, gallerists, and publishers.

Selected images appear in the books one-image-per-page with an index that includes all creative credits and contact information. In addition to the annuals, juried images appear on the AI-AP web site, which attracts over 200 unique visitors per day.

Images remain on the site for life, allowing artists to create an archived portfolio of winning images that can be viewed by potential clients. And we can quickly update your contact information at no extra charge.

Inclusion in the book places you in the highest ranks of your profession.

For entry details, please visit the site.

The premier design and interactive media competition for higher education students from around the world. The Adobe Design Achievement Awards celebrates student achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative and interactive arts.

The competition honors the most talented and promising interactive, motion and video, and traditional media created by students.

Prizes awarded include a trip to the Adobe Design Achievement Awards in New York City, over $60K US in cash and Adobe software prizes.

12 categories in 3 Media Areas

Interactive Media Categories
Browser-Based Design
Non-Browser-Based Design
Designer/Developer Collaboration
Mobile Design
Installation Design
Motion and Video Categories
Animation
Live Action
Motion Graphics
Traditional Media Categories
Illustration
Packaging
Photography
Print Communications

For more info, please visit the site.

Call For Entries
By: American Design Awards

SAN DIEGO, California, January 10, 2008 - The American Design Awards is inviting graphic and web designers from around the world to participate in its 2008 Winter Semi-Annual Design Contest. The Winter and Summer Semi-Annual Design Contests which are now in their sixth year, are the flagship of the American Design Awards which attract an average of five thousand participants annually.

Deadline to submit entries for the 2008 Winter Semi-Annual Design Contest is February 15, 2008. Applications must be submitted online through the American Design Awards website.

The top three entries in each of the twenty-two design categories will be considered for the Award of Design Excellence – this award is presented to designers or design firms who display outstanding design and creative abilities, while maintaining high ethical standards.

The American Design Awards mission is to provide a fair and ethical platform for all graphic and web designers of varying experience levels and disciplines to compete on, while providing a worldwide audience to showcase to.

With the ever-changing landscape of the design industry, the American Design Awards is also expanding its code of ethics by which designers are graded and judged. “Ethical standards have always been valued and exercised in our competitions; this is by far the most important qualification of any designer entering the awards program” said Kevin Javid, Vice President of the American Design Awards.

“Our organization’s mission and the purpose of our events are to strengthen and emphasize ethical practices in our participants, benefiting both the designer as well as the design industry as a whole.”

For more information regarding the entry process, including the various design categories, entry fees, and timelines, please click here.

Calling All Creatives!
MyToons.com Bumper Blastoff Animation Contest - With $7,000 in Cash Prizes - Now Accepting Entries Through Feb. 28
Online Animation Community’s Bumper Blastoff Contest Calls for Animators to Create Animated Bumpers and Compete for Prize Money

SAN ANTONIO - In response to positive animator feedback, MyToons.com, the world’s premier online animation community, is now accepting entries for Bumper Blastoff, its newest international animation contest, through February 28, 2008. Contestants are asked to create original animated bumpers lasting 30 seconds or less, for a chance to win their share of $7,000 in cash prizes. All animators, from students to professionals, are invited to enter Bumper Blastoff at MyToons.com.

Special Student Category:

Six “Rising Stars” in the student category will receive $500 each. One of the student winners will also be crowned “Supreme Rising Star” and will receive a professional portfolio review by INTERspectacular, Victor Newman of Freestyle Collective, and Michael Waldron of Nailgun.

Everyone else is invited to compete for one of MyToons.com’s three “Super Star” Awards. Winners will receive $1,000 each, with one “Supreme Super Star” grand prize winner being awarded an extra $1,000. In addition to these great prizes and worldwide exposure, MyToons.com will award limited edition T-shirts to randomly selected contestants on a weekly basis.

“The Art & Animation Community is our number one priority,” says Stacey Ford, chief creative officer of MyToons, “We are constantly looking for fun and creative ways to engage our members and promote their amazing skills. Bumper Blastoff will help us achieve this goal by empowering and rewarding the hard work and talent of animators everywhere.”

Animations entered into Bumper Blastoff will be judged by leading industry professionals Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, founders and creative directors of INTERspectacular in New York City. The nine winners will be announced on March 12, 2008.

“We’ve seen that students and beginning animators have tremendous talent and great ideas,” says Luis Blanco, one of the key creative directors of INTERspectacular, the award-winning New York-based design and concept studio. “We want to ensure that these amazing artists have equal opportunity to share their ideas and be rewarded for their dedication and creativity,” agrees Michael Uman, co-creative director of INTERspectacular. “The Rising Star category in Bumper Blastoff offers students a much-deserved and challenging opportunity to shine.”

Animators from across the globe are expected to participate in MyToons.com’s second worldwide contest. MyToons’ first contest attracted animators from countries as diverse as Australia, Brazil, France and Germany.

Winning selections will run as pre-rolls and bumpers on MyToons.com and on MyToons’ partner websites. This amazing opportunity will provide the winning animators with great exposure to the millions of people who enjoy MyToons.com. For more information, visit MyToons.com/blastoff.

About MyToons.com
Based in San Antonio Texas, MyToons.com was established in 2006 as the premiere online resource and entertainment destination for professional animators, students, artists and animation fans. Founded by industry leaders Paul Ford, Dan Kraus and Stacey Ford, MyToons.com empowers animators and animation fans everywhere by providing a platform for interaction and world wide exposure.

MyToons is a trademark of MyToons, Inc. All rights reserved. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
MyToons Inc.
Jessica Beers
(210) 227-8666

Reader contact:
MyToons Inc.
118 Broadway, Suite 316
San Antonio TX 78205
(210) 227-8666
(210) 227-8667 fax
www.mytoons.com

The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology Announces 2007 Award Winners

(January 16, 2008) The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology announcedthe winners from its 2007 festival tour. This past year’s festivalevents featured a wide variety of films in different award categories.Festival events took place in The Philippines, Washington DC, NewYork, Jacksonville, Florida, Los Angeles, Burlington, Vermont andLondon. The International Fest of Cinema and Technology has beenpresenting touring film festival events since 2002. The IFCT WorldTour is designed to give exposure to independent films many of whichpreviously had been underexposed to the public. The festival’s mottois it seeks to “discover the undiscovered film.” The “technology” inthe festival’s name occurs both in the content of the festival, whichtends to focus on themes of technology or feature unique creationtechniques, as well as in the method of showcasing content at theevents.

Among this year’s award winners were a few award “sweeps” includingTHE RECE!PT Directed by Tim Garrick which won The IFCT 2007 Award forBest Short and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Comedic Short. THERECE!PT is an innovative and comedic homage to Run Lola Run starringMatthew D. McCallum, Kristen Bell, and Dina Meyer. About his multiplewins, Garrick stated “We are extremely honored to have won the BestComedic Short and Best Short awards for the IFCT 2007 World Tour. Theopportunity to be part of a truly international film festival wasamazing. We were thrilled that our film found a home in IFCT’sprestigious 2007 line up.”

Other winners of multiple award categories included the French shortfilm “Play the Game,” Directed by Stéphane Barbato, which won The IFCT2007 Award for Best European Short Film, Runner-Up for Best Short andand Honorable Mention for Best Cinematography in a Short Film. Playthe Game is inspired by a true story taken from the First World War.Razor Fish Directed by UK filmmaker Helen Williams won The IFCT 2007Award for Best UK Short, Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award forBest UK Short and Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award for BestFemale Director. Razor Fish stars Academy-award winner Brenda Fricker(My Left Foot) About her win, Williams stated “This is my secondshort and entirely self funded. It has been a labour of love oneveryone’s part with the entire cast and crew doing it out of thegoodness of their hearts.” The film Ed I Hide Directed by SuzanneLaine and Len Peltier won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Screenplay andThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Female Director

IFCT has a large selection of animated films and films with FX andinnovative visuals. Henry Selick’s short animated film “Moongirl” wonThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Animation. Selick is the stop-motion gurubehind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.Protocole33 Directed by Benoît Lestang won two awards: The IFCT 2007Award for Best Visual FX and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best VisualInnovation. Lestang has worked as a special effects make-up artist onover 50 feature films. Other animation winners for 2007 included BlurStudio’s “In the Rough” for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best ComedicAnimation, Life in Transition for The IFCT 2007 Award for MostInnovative Animation, Les Humains (music video for aKido) Directed byFélix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël and Thien Vu Dang for The IFCT 2007Award for Best Music Video and Fauna Sutra Directed by Johan won TheIFCT 2007 Award for Best Short Short Animation Directed by JohanKlungel and originating in The Netherlands.

In the festival Documentary category, The Loci Dogma directed byCanadian filmmaker Justin Antippa won The IFCT 2007 Award for BestExperimental Documentary and also Runner-Up for The IFCT 2007 Awardfor Best Cinematography in a Documentary. The film “scans theauthor’s unconsciousness throughout his genetic and environmentalaffiliation.” The World Naked Bike Ride Directed by Johnny Zapatos wonThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Documentary and The IFCT 2007 Award forBest Director of a Documentary. The Legend of the Holy Fishermendirected by Daniele Atzeni won The IFCT 2007 Award for BestCinematography in a Documentary.

Other winners in the festival Short Film categories included IlRitratto Ovale (Oval Portrait) by Directed by Nestore Buonafede- TheIFCT 2007 Award for Best Cinematography in a Short, Un Dia En La VidaDirected by Marco Orsin- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Dramai,Radio-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Canadian Film, Do Not DisturbDirected by Douglas Stark- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Thriller,Bunny and Clydo Directed by Rocky Jo-The IFCT 2007 Award for BestAction Film, The Last Alchemist Directed by Nicolas Caicoya- The IFCT2007 Award for Best Sci-Fi Film, Anna Directed by Michael Fandl - TheIFCT 2007 Award for Foreign Thriller, The Milky Way Directed by SeanBloch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Student Film, Last Night Directedby Scott Patch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Microbudget Short andRoad Rage by Kate Duhamel-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Short ShortFilm.

The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology also has a post-2007 freescreening of highlighted animated shorts from last year which istaking place January 29th in Melbourne at The Loop (located at 23Meyers Place), beginning at 8pm. The schedule for IFCT’s upcoming 2008tour which will be beginning shortly can also be found at the website. For the complete list of The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology2007 award winners visit www.ifct.org.

Collins College is hosting an “Animation Sketch-Off” and a Q & A session with professional comic and animation artists Shannon Denton and Jay Fotos. The winner of Collins’ “Animation Sketch-Off” will receive four complimentary passes to Phoenix Cactus Comicon 2008, Arizona’s largest comic book, anime and pop culture convention 26-27 January. To RSVP for Collin’s “Animation Sketch-Off” and Q & A session, call 480-966-3000 or visit www.contactcollins.com. Participants need to be present to win.
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The Savannah Film Festival, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), is accepting professional and student film submissions for the 2008 festival, taking place 25 Oct. through 1 Nov. Competition categories include animation, documentary feature, documentary short, narrative feature, narrative short and student works. All entries must be postmarked by 16 June. Notification of selected entries will be completed by 15 Sept.

Paperless entries are preferred and can be submitted via Withoutabox’s International Film Festival Submission System (BrigitFest) at www.withoutabox.com. A paper entry form can be downloaded as a pdf file at www.scad.edu/filmfest by clicking on the “call for entries” link.
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