AnimAction, Inc. will be presenting their 12th Annual TEAM (Tobacco Education Awareness Message) Awards on April 10, 2002, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. at the Wadsworth Theatre located in Brentwood, California. AnimAction is a production company dedicated to utilizing the art of animation as a way to educate children about issues of global concern. The company teaches kids to produce animated Public Service Announcements as part of their educational program.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the recipients of the 2nd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, game development's highest honors. The awards were presented Thursday, March 21, 2002 during a ceremony at the San Jose Civic Auditorium as part of this year's annual Game Developers Conference (GDC). The celebration honored innovation as well as technical and artistic achievement in interactive entertainment.

The Cartoon Movie Tributes were awarded during the closing evening of Cartoon Movie, the forum dedicated to European animation feature films, that took place in the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany from March 14-16, 2002. Three European companies were selected from seven nominees who have made a significant mark on the animation feature film industry. The Cartoon Movie Tributes reward European strategies, outstanding facts, companies or personalities that have had a positive and dynamic influence on the European animation feature film industry.
And the winners are…

The British Animation Awards (BAA) were presented Friday, March 15, 2002 at a gala ceremony at the National Film Theater in London. Created in 1996, BAA is a bi-annual event, and since its inception has covered all aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, and new technologies, scenario and craft.

Voting members of the Academy, your ballots are almost due! Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must return their completed final Oscar ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2002. Ballots received after the 5:00 pm deadline are ineligible. If you haven’t had a chance to see all the nominated animated films, check out clips from the animated short films and find out information on all the animated feature nominees at AWN’s Oscar Showcase.

The 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Award nominees were announced on March 13, 2002 and Scholastic Productions’ CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG walked away with five nominations, topping all other animated shows. Close behind was another PBS series, ARTHUR, which tied with The WB’s JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES at three nominations each. Nick’s DORA THE EXPLORER nabbed two noms including one for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.

Imagina 2.0 the International Festival for Digital Images, was held in Monaco on February 12 - 14 , 2002 and THE TALE OF THE FLOATING WORLD, directed by Alain Escalle, won the Grand Prix Imagina over such prestigious nominees as AMÉLIE, SHREK and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The Grand Prix Imagina rewards a unique production that reflects current trends in animation, both technical and artistic. The 24 minute short film, co-produced by Mistral Films and TEVA, combines animation and live-action with modern digital techniques and special effects.

The 16th Annual Goya Awards, the Spanish Film Academy’s equivalent to the U.S. Academy Awards, were presented February 2, 2002. The awards honor Spanish produced films. Independent animated feature EL BOSQUE ANIMADO (THE LIVING FOREST) directed by Manolo Gómez & Angel de la Cruz won two awards, Best Original Song and Best Animated Film. The Best Animated Short Film was POLLO, directed by Manuel Sirgo.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the nominees for the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The winners will be presented at the ceremony on March 21, during the Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 19 - 23 in San Jose, California. The Game Developers Choice Awards are peer-based, and game developers worldwide nominate those games and developers they feel are most deserving of recognition.

Hayao Miyazaki's SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI (SPIRITED AWAY) was awarded The Golden Bear, the top prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival. SPIRITED AWAY shared the award with Paul Greengrass's live-action film BLOODY SUNDAY. Winning the coveted award, and acceptance of the film by Western audiences, may mean the film will finally be seen in the U.S. SPIRITED AWAY broke box office records in Japan, where it was the number one film of all time, earning 29.4 billion yen (US $221.5M). But as recently as summer 2001, Disney (who released Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE in the U.S.