‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon’ Tops British Animation Awards

LONDON – The winners were announced for the prestigious British Animation Awards 2020 (BAAs), with top honors going to Sally Hawkins for The Snail and the Whale; David Arnold for Best Original Music for The Tiger Who Came to Tea, featuring the song “Hey Tiger” with lyrics by Don Black and performed by Robbie Williams; Nick Jr.’s preschool series The Adventures of Paddington and Coldplay’s music video Daddy. Also winning big this year were A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and Shaun the Sheep: Squirreled Away were also big winners.

Held at London’s BFI Southbank, the BAAs was hosted by comedian, actor Miles Jupp. It is the only awards ceremony to recognize all forms of animation and honor the finest achievements in the genre produced in the UK over the last two years.

Sally Hawkins received the award for Best Voice Performance for her portrayal of Snail in Snail and the Whale, Magic Light Pictures’ festive animation about a mollusk on an epic adventure.

Acclaimed studio, Aardman Animations, picked up three major awards, including Best Long Form Animation for its madcap caper, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon (directed by Will Becher and Richard Phelan); the Children’s Choice Award for an episode from its CBBC series, Shaun The Sheep: Squirreled Away (directed by Carmen Bromfield-Mason); and Best Music Video for Coldplay’s Daddy (directed by Asa Lucanda). They also were awarded Best Social Good for the spot, New Mindset.

In the children’s TV categories, Adam Shaw and Chris Drew picked up the Best Children’s Pre-School Series award for Nick Jr. series The Adventures of Paddington - which features the voice of Ben Wishaw as Paddington and a song written and performed by Gary Barlow. The Amazing Adventures of Gumball received another two BAAs, Best Use of Sound and the Writers Award for Richard Overall, Mic Graves and Tony Hull. The Best Children’s Series was awarded to Gutsy Animations’ Sky One series Moominvalley (directed by Steve Box).

The Best Original Music Award went to award-winning duo David Arnold and Don Black for Lupus Films’ The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The award for Best Original Short Form Content went to Giovanna Utichi and Robin Celebi for Cartoon Network UK’s animated short for the Hope Works Project – A Whale’s Tale.

Leading British animation schools were represented in both Best Undergraduate and Best Postgraduate Student film categories, including nominees from Falmouth University School of Film and Television, University of Creative Arts in Farnham, Arts University Bournemouth and the Royal College of Arts London. The winner of the all-female nominated Best Undergraduate Student Film category was Megan Earls from UCA, Farnham for Border/Line and the winner of the Best Postgraduate Student Film was Alex Widdowson, also from RCA, for his film Music and Clowns.

The brand-new Lamb Award, which bridges the gap between current student and general best-in-class awards, recognizing rising stars in the industry, was presented to Roxy Linklater for rigger and armatures at Aardman Animations.

“This is my first year at the helm of the BAAs and I was blown away by the quality of the entries this year,” commented BAA Director, Helen Brunsdon. “The BAAs are a brilliant way to showcase the incredible talent we have here in the UK and help cement Britain’s position as one of the leading countries in the world for animation.”

Held every two years, the BAAs reward the best new and established British animators across a variety of categories including short films, animated graphics for film and television, children’s series, music videos and commercials. The awards themselves (the BAAs) are unique works of art, featuring sheep, created especially for the occasion by a range of leading international and UK animation artists.

The BAAs are sponsored by Astley Baker Davies, Blue Zoo, Brown Bag Films, Sue Terry Voices, Disney, Pact, United Voice, Cartoon Network/Boomerang, Glass Works, Beano, Karrot Animation, Jellyfish Pictures, Lupus Films, Toon Boom, Aardman, A Productions, CBeebies, Cloth Cat Animation, Industry Media, Tiger Aspect, Magic Light Pictures, Milkshake!, Studio AKA, Peacock Sound, Locksmith Animation, Wildseed Studios, Animation UK, Fonic and Sixteen South.

The full list of BAA winners (shown in bold) as well as nominees follows below:

Best Longform

• The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Dir: Robin Shaw, Produced by Lupus Films
• Zog - Dir: Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon, Produced by Magic Light Pictures
• A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon - Dir: Will Becher, Richard Phelan, Produced by Aardman Animations
• Aliens Love Underpants And... Panta Claus - Dir: Steve Edge, Produced by Tiger Aspect, Sky Kids
• The Snail and The Whale - Dir: Max Lang - Daniel Snaddon, Produced by Magic Light Pictures

Best Voice Performance

• Clara Ross as Sophie - The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Dir: Robin Shaw, Produced by Lupus Films Bella Ramsey as Hilda, Hilda- The Hidden People -Dir: Andy Coyle, Produced by Silvergate Media
• The Cast- The Rubbish World of Dave Spud- Donkey – Dir: Edward Foster, Produced by The Illuminated Film Company
• Sally Hawkins as The Snail- The Snail and the Whale - Dir: Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon, Produced by Magic Light Pictures

Best Children’s Series sponsored by Sue Terry Voices

• The Amazing World of Gumball-The Possession -Dir: Mic Graves, Produced by Great Marlborough Productions Limited for Cartoon Network
• Shaun The Sheep- Squirreled Away - Dir: Carmen Bromfield Mason, Produced by Aardman Animations
• The Rubbish World of Dave Spud: Bad Computer - Dir: Edward Foster, Produced by The Illuminated Film Company
• Moominvalley - Dir: Steve Box, Produced by Gutsy Animations
• 101 Dalmatian Street- The Longest Night - Dir: Miklos Wiegert, Produced by Passion Animation Studios for the Walt Disney Company EMEA

Best Children’s Pre-School sponsored by Brown Bag Films

• The Adventures of Paddington - Dir: Adam Shaw, Chris Drew Produced by Studio Canal, Heyday Films
• Hey Duggee- The Tree Badge - Dir: Grant Orchard, Produced by Studio AKA
• Clangers- The Visitor - Dir: Joanne Chalkey, Chris Tichborne, Produced by Coolabi Productions Limited, Smallfilms Limited and Peter Firmin

Best Music Video

• Coldplay - Daddy - Dir: Asa Lucander, Produced by Aardman
• Sad Heart - Dir: Karni and Saul, Produced by Sulkybunny Productions
• Honour Wave - Dir: Greg McLeod

Writers Award

• Shaun The Sheep: Baa-Gherita - Dir: Steve Cox, Produced by Aardman
• The Rubbish World of Dave Spud - The Wrinkly Bus - Dir; Edward Foster, Produced by The Illuminated Film Company
• The Amazing World Of Gumball: The Agent - Dir: Mic Graves, Produced by Great Marlborough Productions Limited for Cartoon Network

Best Post Graduate Student Film

• In Her Boots - Dir: Kathrin Steinbacher (RCA)
• Music and Clowns -Dir: Alex Widdowson (RCA)
• My Dads Name Was Huw. He Was an Alcoholic Poet - Dir: Freddie Griffiths (RCA)

Best Original Short Form Content

• A Whale’s Tale - Dir: Giovanna Utichi, Robin Celebi, Produced by Cartoon Network for Hope Works
• Crow - Dir: Simon Tofield, Produced by Simon’s Cat Ltd
• Chris P Duck - Dir: Tom Gran, Martin Woolley Produced by Wildseed Studios

Best Original Music

• The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Composer David Arnold, lyrics Don Black, Director Robin Shaw, Produced by Lupus Films
• Aliens Love Underpants And... Panta Claus - Dir: Steve Edge, Produced by Illuminated Films
• The Amazing World of Gumball: The Singing - Dir: Mic Graves, Produced by Great Marlborough Productions Limited for Cartoon Network

Best Social Good

• Voicing CSA: The Mouse - Dir: Katie Steed, Produced by Slurpy Studios
• What Is Beauty - Dir: Anna Ginsburg, Produced by CNN and Sarah-Grace Mankarious
• New Mindset - Dir: Danny Capozzi, Produced by Aardman

Best Commissioned Animation

• Pokémon Go Planet Pokémon - Dir: Joe O’Connor, Produced by Maverik
• Conception: Catie & Jen- Dir: Moth Studio, Produced by Moth Studios for the New York Times
• The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s ‘59 Telecaster’ - Dir: Smith & Foulkes, Produced by Nexus Studios

Source: British Animation Awards

AWN Staff Editor