ASIFA-East celebrates the best in animated short films, television programming and commercials. First, second and third place prizes will be given for overall excellence within each of the entry classifications -- Student Films, Commercial & Promos, Independent Films and Sponsored Films Over Two Minutes. All awards will be made by judges selected by the Awards Committee. The event will take place at 6:00 pm at the Parsons School of Design -- Tishman Auditorium, located at 66 West 12th St. For more information, visit www.asifaeast.org.

The 2nd Annual Hollywood And Games Summit will unite Hollywood studio and videogame execs under one roof to exchange ideas in an entertainment-specific forum. The summit will also allow leaders from their respective industries to interact and discuss best practices for strategically marketing original intellectual property. This two-day event will include focused sessions, an exhibit floor and a networking reception. The event will take place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, 1755 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, California. For more information, visit www.hollywoodandgames.com.

The next issue, PSIVT 2007, will be held in Santiago, Chile, at the Catholic University. Santiago hosted many large conferences in the past, and we would consider PSIVT 2007 as an opportunity to introduce this region to the image and video community. Santiago is Chile's capital. It has a population of about 5.5 million people and is one of Latin America's most sophisticated metropolitan areas, with a good balance between modern infrastructure and elegant 18th century Spanish Architecture. The city is also considered to be one of the most diverse and rich cultures to be found in South America. See more in http://www.santiago.cl This new symposium provides a forum for presenting and exploring the newest research and development in image and video technology by discussing the possibilities and directions in this field, a place where both academic research and industrial activities are presented and meet for mutual benefit. The symposium combines a conference with an exhibition (showing the latest products in image and video technology), and offers also tutorials, a show of digital art, demonstrations and tours to industrial sites. The symposium brings together technical issues, theory and practice, artistic and consumer innovations, and invites researchers, artists, developers, educators, performers, and practitioners of image and video technology from the Pacific Rim and around the world. There is PSIVT best paper awards for submitted conference papers, and a PSIVT Innovation Prize and special recognitions for products shown at the exhibition. The conference program includes plenary talks and sessions of technical presentations of reviewed papers. For more information, visit www.psivt.org/.

The 2007 International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, will celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. Bill Gates, chairman/chief software designer of Microsoft Corp., will return to CES for his ninth pre-show keynote address on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007, at 6:30 pm. Ed Zander, chairman/ceo of Motorola Inc., will kick off the 2007 International CES with an opening keynote, immediately following a State of the Industry Address by Gary Shapiro, president/ceo of CEA, which starts at 8:30 am on Monday, Jan. 8. Robert Iger, president/ceo of The Walt Disney Co., will round off day one of the International CES with his company's first CES keynote address at 4:30 pm, Monday afternoon. All keynotes for the 2007 show will take place at The Venetian's Palazzo Ballroom. The 2007 International CES will feature the hottest product debuts from 2,700 exhibitors, covering more than 30 product areas, including the latest in wireless, digital imaging, mobile electronics, home networking and more. For more news on the 2007 International CES before, during and after the show, visit www.CESweb.org.

Red Stick International Animation Festival is an annual event that brings together artists, animators, filmmakers, computer scientists and also people who just like cartoons to showcase the latest developments in Louisiana's digital arts and technology sectors, which is leading to economic development for the state and the city. The festival will take place at a variety of venues in the capital city. This year's festival offers many events, including screenings of new and classic animation, workshops for aspiring animators and lectures from those in the industry. So far, the festival has received 236 film submissions from 30 countries. For more information, log onto www.redstickfestival.org.

The 2007 VES Festival of Visual Effects will take place the weekend of June 8-10 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. The VES defines most influential as "those films that have had a significant, lasting impact on the practice and appreciation of visual effects as an integral, artistic element of cinematic expression and the storytelling process." The VES Festival is open to the public; information on programs and tickets will be released in upcoming months. One of Hollywood's youngest organizations, the VES (www.visualeffectssociety.com) was formed in 1997 in response to the explosive growth in the visual effects industry. It is a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to improving the welfare of its members by providing professional enrichment and education, fostering community, and promoting industry recognition. The VES is the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of entertainment from film, television and commercials to music videos and games. Comprised of a diverse group of about 1,500 global members, the VES strives to enrich and educate its own members and members of the entertainment community at large through a multitude of domestic and international events, screenings and programs.

The British Animation Awards, also known as the BAAs, were launched in 1996 and are a biannual event that covers the whole spectrum of contemporary animation production in the U.K., from short films to features, music videos to student and experimental work, animated commercials, creative use of new technologies, sound, TV and film graphics, and children's entertainment. Categories are judged by peer groups and there is also a children's jury. The Public Choice Awards give the general public an opportunity to vote for their favorites in selected categories via screenings held in cinemas across the U.K. Winners receive a one-of-a-kind piece of sheep-themed artwork created by an inspirational fellow artist or animator. BAA is introducing a new category in 2008 to celebrate talented artists lending their voice to animated work. The Best Character Voice Performance award will be sponsored by The Sound Company. Interested entrants should visit www.britishanimationawards.com for details on entering and to download the appropriate forms. The deadline for student work is Oct. 31, 2007 and all other category entries need to be received by Nov. 30. Entrants whose work has been short-listed for judging will be notified and three finalists from each category will be screened in extract on the awards night (March 13, 2008) when the winner is announced. Juries are made up of experts in the animation, arts and broadcast industries.

The 2008 International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, will celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. The event will feature the hottest product debuts from 2,700 exhibitors, covering more than 30 product areas, including the latest in wireless, digital imaging, mobile electronics, home networking and more. For more details, visit www.CESweb.org.

The NAB Show is the world's largest professional digital media industry convention. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has been hosting this event for over 80 years for all traditional broadcast, entertainment and emerging platform industries, including TV, Radio, Film, Internet and many others. This is where it originates -- an extraordinary experience, over twice the size of any other tradeshow centered on content: creation, management, commerce, distribution and delivery. The NAB Show is the ultimate destination for a global audience of media professionals who seek to deliver enriched content from concept to consumption. Kamy Merithew, Vice President of Marketing for WEGENER, and Gary Pelkey, WEGENER’s VP System Architect, will present discussions at the World Teleport Association (WTA) Content Distribution Forum and the 62nd Annual Broadcast Engineering Conference respectively. Pelkey will be joined by Eric Wiler, VP of Technology for Jones Radio Network, for a presentation entitled "Radio Broadcasters: Building File-Based Networks". They will examine the technology behind the next generation of satellite-delivered programming and discuss ways to provide listeners and advertisers with a sense of local presence by transitioning to file-based program delivery. The presentation is part of the session, Radio Technology Advancements and is scheduled for Sunday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m in the Las Vegas Convention Center Room S226/227.

Featuring the returning Tiffcom market, the festival will be the last major feature of CoFesta, an umbrella event covering 16 festivals devoted to music, games, comicbooks, TV shows and film that starts with the Tokyo Game Show to start either September 24 or 25. (Per VARIETY).