The British Animation Awards 2024 Winners Announced

Last night in London the UK animation industry assembled for the biggest night of their year. The biannual British Animation Awards are now in their 28th year. The winners were revealed in a ceremony at BFI Southbank, presented by German comedian Henning Wehn.

The night's big winner was Lupus Film's hand-drawn feature Kensuke's Kingdom which took home three awards including Best Feature Film and Best Writing for Frank Cottrell-Boyce. The film has not yet had a wide release in the UK. Adapted from the beloved children's book by Michael Morpurgo, the film follows a young boy on a seemingly deserted island. It is directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry.

Lupus Films was also awarded in the Long Form Animation Category for the Channel 4 film Mog's Christmas. Adapted from Judith Kerr's much loved picture book, it shared the honour with A Bear Called Wojtek, Iain Gardner’s story of Edinburgh Zoo's famous Brown Bear who was adopted by Polish soldiers in World War II. 

The Best Short Film was awarded to Elizabeth Hobbs for The Debutante, in which a spirited young woman persuades a Hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance held in her honour.

The BAA for Best voice performance was awarded to the ensemble cast of The Amazing Maurice. A fantasy comedy based on a Terry Pratchett novel, the film features the voices of Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel, Gemma Arterton, Hugh Bonneville, David Tennant and Ariyon Bakare.

The Best Commercial went to The Great British Bake Off's promo for 2023. Meanwhile, Best Music Video went to Late Nights, directed by Golden Wolf for Death By Romy and Adult Swim.

Taking home two awards was Odo for Channel 5's Milkshake. Produced by Belfast-based Sixteen South, the series won for Best Preschool Series and Best Design. The Best Children's Series Award went to The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud, produced by The Illuminated Film Company for ITV. The Best International Animated Series Award went to The Tiny Chef Show from Nickelodeon and Factory Create.

Winning for Best Use Of Sound was Magic Light Pictures' The Smeds and The Smoos, based on the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Best Factual went to Another Presence. Produced, written and directed by Simon Ball, the film depicts the experiences of those living with dementia and Lewy bodies (DLB). The Social Good Award went to Change The Ending, a powerful film directed by agaianstallodds about the importance of of Alzheimer Research UK’s mission to find a cure for the disease.

In two of the BAA's newer awards, the Cutting Edge award for challenging the Status Quo went to Emma Colder for her film Beware Of Trains, while the Wildcard Award went to Jon Dunleavy’s Two Gracious Uncles Smooched to the Beat.

In the student categories, some of the most prestigious institutions and courses in the country were represented. The winners were Sena Miyazaki’s (Arts University Bournemouth) Cortex for Best Undergraduate Student Film and Tanya J.Scott’s  (National Film and Television School) The Wolf of Custer for Best Postgraduate Student Film.

The Lamb Award was introduced in 2020 and was designed to recognise the best young professionals working in the animation and VFX industry. The winner of the Lamb Award for 2024 is Malachi James who was nominated by Blue Zoo.

There were also two BAAs nominated by the public. The Children's Choice Award went to Netflix's Dead End: Paranormal Park, voted for by year 4 pupils from St Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Bristol. The Audience Award went to Shackle directed by Ainslie Henderson.

The British Animation Awards themselves are unique, with winners taking home not a trophy but a one-of-a-kind piece of art. This year the awards were created by animator and artist Derek Hayes, senior lecturer in Animation and FX at Falmouth University. With the theme 'Triumph of Animation', they feature some of the best-loved characters from animation from the past 100 years.

BAA Director Helen Brunsdon and Producer Kieran Argo said: "As always we have been blown away by the quality of work produced by the British Animation industry over the last couple of years and would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to all the winners."

The full list of winners and nominees are below

 

Best Design

Ms. Marvel – Dir: Ian Spendloff

ODO – Mum – Dir: Piotr Szczepanowicz, Mikolaj Pilchowski WINNER

Puffin Rock and The New Friends – Dir: Jeremy Purcell

 

Best Use of Sound

Kensuke's Kingdom – Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry

The Smeds and The Smoos – Dir: Daniel Snaddon, Samantha Cutler WINNER

The Sound Collector - Harp Strings – Dir: Chris Tichborne

 

Best Factual Award

Jeremy, my Father – Dir: Miranda Peyton Jones

Something More – Dir: Mary Martins

Another Presence – Dir: Simon Ball WINNER

A Taste For Music – Dir: Jordan Antonowicz-Behnan

 

Best Voice Performance

Mog's Christmas – Voice Ensemble, Director Robin Shaw

The Amazing Maurice - Voice Ensemble, Director Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann WINNER

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Voice Ensemble, Director Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy

 

Best Undergraduate Film

The Moonseeker – Dir: Diana Blázquez Martín, Katherine Galley

hyposoMIAOW – Dir: Yunxin Zou

Cortex - Dir: Sena Miyazaki WINNER

 

Best Postgraduate Film

Death of The Gods – Dir: Leto Stojanovic Meade

Spring Roll Dream – Dir: Mai Vu

The Wolf of Custer – Dir: Tanya J Scott WINNER

Crab Day – Dir: Ross Stringer

 

Writers Award

Lloyd of the Flies - Gummy Goes Off – Andrew Barnett Jones and Ciaran Murtagh, Dir: Matthew Walker

Kensuke's Kingdom – Frank Cottrell-Boyce Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry WINNER

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud - Olden Days -Writer and Dir: Edward Foster

Dead End: Paranormal Park - 210 The Watcher's Test – Hamish Steele, Dir: Liz Whittaker

 

Lamb Award

Beatriz Diosdado Masa - Blue Zoo

Aiesha Penwarden - Skylark Films/Big Squid Ink Ltd.

Malachi James - Blue Zoo WINNER

 

Best Children’s Pre-School Series

HEY DUGGEE- The Music Video Badge – Dir: Grant Orchard, Sander Jones

The Very Small Creatures (series 2) – Dir: Lucy Izzard

ODO – Mum – Dir: Piotr Szczepanowicz, Mikolaj Pilchowski WINNER

The Adventures of Paddington (series 3) – Dir: Adam Shaw, Chris Drew

 

Best Children’s Series

Tweedy & Fluff – Dir: Chris Randall

The Sound Collector - Harp Strings – Dir: Chris Tichborne

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Moonbreaker – Dir: Edward Foster WINNER

Lloyd of the Flies – Dir: Matt Walker, Jane Davies

 

Children’s Choice

Dead End: Paranormal Park – Dir: Liz Whitaker WINNER

Supertato – Dir: Dominic Minns

The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe - The Prince and the Valiant Quest – Dir: Eva Lee Wallberg, Christian Boving-Andersen

Lego City No Limits – (episode 6) – Dir: Ben Steer

 

Cutting Edge

Beware of Trains – Dir: Emma Calder WINNER

Silly Duck Dir” Alec Smith

Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway – Dir: Bram Ttwheam, Finbar Hawkins

The Line Experiments – Dir: Antoine Perez

 

Best Music Video

Carry You by Ruelle– Dir: Flora Caulton

Tell Me Where To Go by JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown– Dir: Peter Beatty, Joseph Boyle

Late Nights' Music Video – Dir: DEATHBYROMY & ADULT SWIM WINNER

 

Wildcard (Awarded to animations of any durations deemed as ‘extraordinary’

The Beatles Vs The Stones – Dir: Andrew Kelleher (Dog&Rabbit)

Two Gracious Uncles Smooched To The Beat – Dir: Jon Dunleavy WINNER

Hairy Houdini – Dir: Trevor Hardy

 

Best Original Music

Mog's Christmas – Composer David Arnold Dir: Robin Shaw

Tweedy & Fluff – Composers Beth Porter and Ben Plea Dir: Chris Randall

Kensuke's Kingdom – Composer Stuart Hancock Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry WINNER

 

Best Animation in a Commercial

Blown Away – Dir: Sarah McDonald

Channel 4: The Great British Bake Off 2023 Official Trailer – Dir: JuanPe Arroyo WINNER

The Lords of Water – Dir: Golden Wolf

Social Good Award

Alzheimer’s Research UK ‘Change The Ending – againstallodds WINNER

Ask me how I am – Dir: Zan Barberton, Joseph Clark

Inner Polar Bear – Dir: Gerald Conn

 

Best International Animated Series

Captain Fall – Dir: Adam Parton, Peter Merryman

Milo – Dir: Chris Capstick

The Tiny Chef Show  (Episode Pancakes) – Dir: Rachel Larsen, Chris Tichborne WINNER

Supa Team 4   

 

Best Long Form Animation

A Bear Named Wojtek – Dir: Iain Gardner WINNER

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse – Dir: Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy

Peter and the Wolf – Dir: Stephen McNally, Elliot Dear

Mog's Christmas – Dir: Robin Shaw WINNER

 

Best Feature Film

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – Dir: Sam Fell

A Cat Called Dom – Dir: Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

Kensuke's Kingdom – Dir: Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry WINNER

Puffin Rock and The New Friends – Dir: Jeremy Purcell

The Amazing Maurice – Dir: Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann

 

Best Short Form

Christopher at Sea – Dir: Tom CJ Brown

The Debutante – Dir: Elizabeth Hobbs WINNER

All Gucci My Broski – Dir: Harry Plowden