Super U Animation Contest
Deadline: October 30, 2008

Stop-motion, 3D, claymation, Flash or flip book. If it's animated, you could win $2,500.

Beginning in September 2008, Super U and TAC.tv (a.k.a Tetes a claques) will be presenting quarterly animation contests. A jury, including TAC.tv creator Michel Beaudet will be awarding a prize for the best of the best at the end of August 2009.

BIOSHOCK for the PlayStation 3 needed a promotional site that did justice to its intense graphics and compelling storyline. The team of designers, motion/3D artists, and developers at ROKKAN, a bicoastal, full-service interactive agency, created an online experience as gripping and immersive as the critically acclaimed game itself.

Expanding upon their existing relationship, NCircle Ent. signed a new multi-year DVD brick-and-mortar and online retail distribution agreement with The MoonScoop Group's Taffy Ent. NCircle will assume responsibility for the DVD roll-out of the new children's series CHLOE'S CLOSET in North America. NCircle, a division of Source Interlink Companies, has already begun elevating the North American presence of Taffy's preschool DIVE OLLY DIVE! series since June.

This week in AWN's Forums, discussion of freelance contracts continues, but the consensus is to consult a lawyer. IGOR's less than stellar opening weekend is dissected. A heated discussion is underway regarding fan creations of copyright-protected characters. What 2D animation software would you use for Web animation if Flash were unavailable? Some new animations were posted for member critique. A character designer is hoping to get into animation and is looking for advice.

Nicktoons Network will air RANDOM! CARTOONS episodes on Saturdays and Sundays this December, starting December 6, according to CARTOONBREW.com.

RANDOM! CARTOONS is 39 shorts for kids, all with different characters and stories and all seven minutes long. A mix of traditional, CG and Flash animation and created by Fred Seibert, the series has been delayed by Nickelodeon several times.

Shorts include ADVENTURE TIME (Pendleton Ward), GARLIC BOY (John R. Dilworth), GARY GUITAR (Bill Plympton), HORNSWIGGLE (Jerry Beck) and SOLOMON FIX (Doug TenNapel).

Digital animation and visual effects studio Keyframe Digital Productions is co-producing and creating 3D animation for 26 new half-hour episodes of PINKY DINKY DOO for the second season of the animated preschool series produced by Sesame Workshop and Cartoon Pizza.

Keyframe co-founder Clint Green is also producer and production manager for Keyframe. Keyframe co-founder, Darren Cranford, is directing all 26 episodes, which include 52 segments and 104 games. JoEllyn Marlow is overseeing production for Sesame Workshop.

GoAnimate Animators Contest
World Wide Web
Deadline: October 1, 2008

GoAnimate.com is offering the opportunity to win cash prizes in the GoAnimate Animators Contest by designing and posting your most inventive animation.

The creators of GoAnimate designed GoAnimate to allow the casual online socialite the opportunity to share their sentiments, sagas and satires in animation, without drawing talent or a technical understanding of advanced software such as Flash.

This week in AWN's Forums, check out a new Flash cartoon about an evil scientist and several new excerpts on the business of independent film financing, including distribution tips, creating a business plan and funding plan and how to present to investors. The discussion of art and animation schools keeps adding choices to the list of schools to consider. A member wants to discuss music in cartoons, both the old and the new.

NOGGIN, the 24-hour, commercial-free, educational network for preschoolers, will premiere the second season of PINKY DINKY DOO, the interactive and imaginative series from Sesame Workshop and Cartoon Pizza, with two back-to-back new episodes on Sunday, September 7, from 7-8 p.m. (ET).

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is now out on DVD and Blu-ray, along with some JUSTICE LEAGUE, HANNAH MONTANA in 3-D and a direct-to-video extension of the Scorpion King story.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES: The Complete First Season On DVD And Blu-ray