French director Benjamin Renner won the Cartoon d'Or for his graduation film A Mouse's Tale. © La Poudrière School.

The BBC's Jesse Cleverly saw it and believed it had potential as a series and is now backing production of 13 half hours set for delivery next August.

Ireland's Magma Prods. pitched a touching series of childlike animations of interviews with school kids called Just A Thought, based on the 1999 Oscar-nominated short by Karsten Kiilerich and Stefan Fjeldmark of Denmark's A Film. That film talked to children about attitudes toward death, but two further pilots have now been made for German broadcaster WDR on Love and Rich and Poor. The idea is to extend this into a 26x5 series on a range of themes.

Together with its German subsidiaries Ulysses and Pictorion Magma, Magma also pitched a new preschool show. Dr. Ella is a 52x13 CGI concept, which aims to do for doctors what Bob the Builder did for construction workers. Magma's Ralph Christians believes kids will actually want to be Ella, just like they wanted to be Bob.

It was a strong year for preschool shows, with the UK's Mackinnon and Saunders following up success with the older-skewed Frankensein's Cat with a move into the youngest audience with Rah Rah. Described as a noisy preschool series that helps children find their inner voice, the 52x7 series follows Rah Rah the lion and his animal friends on adventures in the Jingly Jangly Jungle.

Leading U.K. studio Cosgrove Hall also had a new preschool concept in the shape of the 104x5.5 Squidge and the Hardnuts. Developed from the premise that it's OK to be different, it features soft CGI characters Squidge and Splat in the hard 3D-modelled world of the Hardnuts.

The trailer for Picnic with Pie, from Submarine in the Netherlands and Belgium's Walking the Dog, managed to turn a beautiful classic picture book into stunning animation with 2D rendering of CGI models. And the concept for the 26x4 series is equally original. The book features 26 animals and a mystery regarding what happens to pies baked by Mr. and Mrs. Dog. The series will feature common elements, telling the same story over and over, but from the perspective of a different animal each time. The idea is to mirror the process of re-reading a favourite book with a parent.

It was a strong year for preschool shows at Cartoon Forum. Leading U.K. studio Cosgrove Hall presented Squidge and the Hardnuts, developed from the premise that it's OK to be different. Courtesy of Cartoon Forum.

Myo and Ga kicked up a lot of interest with its fast-paced environmental tale of a rabbit, a chicken and a turtle trying to save the God of the Sea. Produced by Imira Ent. in Spain at Vooz studio and written by British comedian Rebecca Stevens, the show is planned as 78x7 series for kids six to nine.

Colin and Cumberland is a 26x13 CGI comedy adventure for six-to-nines from Axis Animation in Scotland. Director Dana Dorian explains, "It's about a man and his dog. He's an optimistic glass-half-full kind of person. But his dog is just the opposite. He's grumpy and mean. There's an underlying respect for each other, but the dog doesn't like to admit it."

Welsh studio Calon continued its annual tradition of putting on a show for its pitch at Cartoon Forum. And with this year's concept concerning a gang of junior magicians, MD Robin Lyons was in his element as a mind-reading host. Abercadabra is a 52x11 series for six-to-nines that will teach kids at home one magic trick during each episode.

Brown & Sticky Productions from the U.K. presented Adrian's Wall, a 26x11 CGI comedy show about the Romans in Britain, featuring female lead Nicetosea. Director Sarah Bird says it's aimed at an older eight-to-12 demographic, with a sophisticated brand of humour.

Next year sees three new venues for the Cartoon organization. Following 10 years hosted at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany, the animation feature film event Cartoon Movie moves to the French city of Lyon March 4-6.

Cartoon Forum itself will be staged September 22-25 in Stavanger, Norway. Then in October, the first-ever edition of Cartoon Connection will aim to bring together animation professionals from different continents with a special event in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Bob Swain is an animation scriptwriter based at Sidewinder Films in the U.K. He has attended every edition of Cartoon Forum since it began in 1990.

Ron Diamond is the co-founder and publisher of AWN and the owner of animation production house Acme Filmworks.