The Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival has announced its winners. Michael Dudok De Wit's FATHER & DAUGHTER took home the award for best international animated film. Receiving the prize for best French animated short was Florence Miailhe's AU PREMIER DIMANCHE D' AOÛT. AtomFilms sponsored both of the animated short categories. The jury was comprised of Wasis Diop, Qu-Dok Hwang, Cédric Kahn and world-renowned director of AT THE ENDS OF THE WORLD Konstantin Bronzit. Over 136 films were in official competition from over 50 countries.

The British Academy of Film & Television Artists have announced the nominations for the 2001 Orange British Academy Film Awards. Visual spectacle ruled the list with GLADIATOR and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 14 nominations each. Both films garnered nominations in the outstanding film, screenplay, music and visual effects categories. Joining the Roman romp and romantic fantasy for best special effects are THE PERFECT STORM, VERTICAL LIMIT and CHICKEN RUN.

Alias|Wavefront's Maya won the "Best of Show" award at Macworld 2001, awarded by MacWeek.com. While Alias|Wavefront originally announced that it would be porting Maya to Mac OS X in May of 2000, Macworld San Francisco marked the company's first public demonstration of Maya on the Mac: both at the Alias|Wavefront booth and during Apple CEO, Steve Jobs' keynote address. "All in all Macworld was an astounding show for us," says Director of Maya Technolgoies, Richard Kerris. "Apple has been very supportive throughout our development process.

Nickelodeon has announced the nominations for its 14th Annual Kids' Choice Awards. Receiving nods for Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie were Mel Gibson (CHICKEN RUN), Kevin Kline (THE ROAD TO EL DORADO), Susan Sarandon (RUGRATS IN PARIS) and David Spade (THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE). Vying for Favorite Cartoon are Nick's HEY ARNOLD!, Cartoon Network's THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, Nick's RUGRATS and Fox's THE SIMPSONS. Best movie nods went to effects heavy flicks CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE GRINCH and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS along with live-action comedy BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE.

Visual spectacle was the top winner at this year's Golden Globe awards. DreamWorks' GLADIATOR took home the award for Best Drama and Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard took home the Best Original Score prize for their work on the Roman epic. The global sensation CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON racked up statuettes for Best Foreign Language Film and director Ang Lee took home an award for his direction. CHICKEN RUN couldn't repeat TOY STORY 2's win for Best Comedy or Muscial losing out to the rock 'n roll ode, ALMOST FAMOUS.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short list of films being considered for the Visual Effects Oscar. The seven films chosen were CAST AWAY, DINOSAUR, DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, GLADIATOR, HOLLOW MAN, THE PERFECT STORM and X-MEN. Fifteen-minute clip reels from each of the seven films will be screened for the Visual Effects Award Nominating Committee on February 7. The members will then pick three of the seven films for nominations. Those nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 13, at 5:30 am.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the recipients of awards for scientific and technical achievement for the year 2000. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented on Saturday evening, March 3, at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. An Oscar statuette will be among 17 Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievement to be presented during the ceremony.

The U.S. Recording Academy's premiere recording awards, the Grammys, have put out their list of nominees and several nods have gone to tunes from cartoons. Competing in the Best Musical Album For Children category are "More Songs From Pooh Corner" by Kenny Loggins and "Woody's Roundup Featuring Riders In The Sky" by Riders In The Sky. The FANTASIA/2000 soundtrack received a nod for Outstanding Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.

The Havana Film Festival, Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, is traditionally the major cinema event in Latin America, and is still one of the major events in the region in spite of the growing problems to organize it. The number of films, audience members and guests is very impressive. The latest 22nd edition was held from December 5 - 15, 2000. The ten-day event focused on feature films, but also included a separate competition for Latin American animation. The selection is comprehensive, but not too big, however the films are not always new.

The Golden Globe Awards, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press, have always been kind to animated features. And this year is no exception. DreamWorks/Aardman's CHICKEN RUN has garnered itself a nomination for best musical or comedy. It competes against the live-action films ALMOST FAMOUS, BEST IN SHOW, CHOCOLAT and O' BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? Last year, TOY STORY 2 took home the same prize. Disney's THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE made an appearance in the very Disneyfied category of best original song for "My Funny Friend and Me." F/X films received nods in several categories also.

The 17th

EuropaCinema & TV Film Festival has announced its 2000 winners. First

prize in the animation short category went to AU PREMIER DIMANCHE

D'AOUT by Florence Miailhe. The jury, composed by Francesco Tullio

Altan (Italy), Terry Inglese (Switzerland) and Georges Wolinski

(France), made the following statement about the winning film: "For

the grace and beauty of the drawings, for the refined work of

painting. For the editing and the music and also for the ability in

The Holland Animation Film Festival concluded its five-day festival with the presentation of its awards. This year's event was the first to hand out an award for independent animation films. With this competition, the festival sets out to promote the short, artistic animation film, and, as a result, encourage media attention toward independent animation. This year's student jury included: Joan Ashworth (animation filmmaker, England), Henk Beumers (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands) and Menno de Nooijer (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands).

The London Effects and Animation Festival handed out its awards at a ceremony on November 14, 2000. DreamWork's GLADIATOR, with visual effects by Mill Film, took home the prize for best effects feature, beating out DINOSAUR and the TV miniseries ARABIAN NIGHTS. The works were judged by a panel of industry experts, media buyers and trade media. The awards kicked off the three day event, which will include screenings, panel discussions, presentations and a sneak peek at PDI and DreamWork's new 3D animated feature SHREK. Below is a complete list of this year's winners.

On Saturday, November 11, 2000, ASIFA-Hollywood held their 28th annual Annie Award ceremony. This year's big winner was TOY STORY 2 with five awards, including the nod for outstanding theatrical feature. Emmy Award winners Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, the voices of the now infamous Warner Bros. duo Pinky and the Brain, hosted the ceremony. For television, MICKEY MOUSEWORKS and the special OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER both tied with two prizes each. In addition, last year's winner for outstanding primetime show, THE SIMPSONS, took home the award once again.

Cinanima 2000 finished its week of screenings with the presentation of its awards on Sunday, November 12, 2000. This year's grand prizewinner was Michel Dudok Wit's FATHER AND DAUGHTER, which also won the Alves Costa Award given by journalists at the festival. In two categories the international juries awarded ties. Paul Driessen's THE BOY WHO SAW THE ICEBERG and Florence Miailhe's AU PREMIERE DIMANCHE D’AOUT both took the Class B Prize for best film between 7 and 21 minutes and Mark Van Der Maarel's THE PINBOARD and Vários' DADDY AND I took home the best first film award.

The 2000 Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Party of the 17th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival was held Sunday, October 22, 2000 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Mayer Education Center. The event was hosted by director/actor Harold Ramis (BEDAZZLED, GROUNDHOG DAY, GHOSTBUSTERS). The Chicago International Children's Film Festival is the largest competitive festival of films for children in North America. This year's Festival screened 210 films from over 40 countries, including 36 world premieres. Below is a list of the animation winners.

The British Academy of Film & Television Arts has announced the winners of its third annual interactive entertainment awards. Lego & Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set, which gives kids a virtual production studio in a box, took home two prizes in the learning and children’s categories. Cartoon Network U.K. Online won the entertainment Website award over Netherlands-based toon site ExtraTainment.com.

The Walt Disney Co. has announced the recipients of the 2000 Disney Legends Awards in honor of individuals whose work has made a significant and lasting impact on the Disney legacy. Grace Bailey will posthumously receive the honor for a 40-year Disney career in which she served as head of the Ink and Paint department. Harriet Burns was the studio's first woman Imagineer and a pioneer in designing and building prototypes for Disney's theme park attractions. Joyce Carlson was a studio inker, who went on to build prototypes of IT'S A SMALL WORLD and other theme park attractions.

The British Academy of Film & Television Arts has announced its nominations for the third annual interactive entertainment awards. Three nods, for the technical innovation, learning and children’s awards, went out to the Lego & Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set, which gives kids a virtual production studio in a box. In the learning category, the Moviemaker Set is up against the SCOTTISH WRITERS and STAR WARS MATH’S JABBA’S GAME GALAXY CD-Roms. In the children’s category, the Moviemaker Set will be competing against Cartoon Network U.K.

The I Castelli Animati Festival has split its grand prize between Igor Kovalyov’s FLYING NANSEN and Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove’s VILLAGE OF IDIOTS. The event took place in Genzano, Italy from Wednesday, October 4 – Sunday, October 8, 2000. This year’s international competition jury was composed of Furio Scarpelli, Julian Nott, Massimo Bucchi, Paul Driessen and Wendy Tilby.