Folimage, YLE, 9 Story Distribution Win at 2018 CARTOON Tributes
The European animation honoured its main protagonists by awarding the Cartoon Tributes 2018, prizes that recognize the work of companies and people that have contributed to the development of the European animation industry over the past year. Elected through electronic voting by the record-breaking number of 1000 participants of 29th Cartoon Forum - the co-pro and pitching event for animation series - the winners were announced on September 13 in Toulouse.
Ireland, France and Finland shared the prizes in the three categories:
- Distributor of the Year: 9 Story Distribution International (Ireland). a content creator and distributor of kids & family focused intellectual property. Recognized around the world for best-in-class brands such as "Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood", "Wild Kratts", "Numb Chucks" and "Peg + Cat", 9 Story represents over 2,500 half hours of animated and live-action programming
- Producer of the Year: Folimage (France): Founded in 1981 by Jacques-Rémy Girerd, The French studio Folimage focuses on creating TV series, shorts and feature films. They are currently producing a second season to both of their series: "Ariol" and "Don’t Die Dumb" (broadcasted by Arte in fall 2015). At the Cartoon Forum this year, its project "Looking for Santa"will be pitched, as well as two co-production's projects: "Maëlys Mysteries" and "We are the Artists", in which it is their co-producer.
- Broadcaster of the Year: Finnish Broadcasting Company – YLE (Finland): YLE is a Finnish broadcaster that airs over 1,000 hours of programming for 2-12 year olds through its channel YLE TV2. The company, which has a strong co-production policy, is one of the main promoters of Finnish animation that has recently participated in series such as "Gigglebug" and "Albi the Snowman".
Check out the list of nominees
Created in 1990 to boost the co-production and distribution of European animation for television and new media platforms, Cartoon Forum has helped 753 animation series obtain financing to the tune of over 2.5 billion Euros. CARTOON is an international non-profit association based in Brussels organising Cartoon Forum, along with Cartoon Movie, a co-production forum for feature-length animation; the Cartoon Master training seminars; and Cartoon Connection, a programme intended to explore ways of reinforcing cooperation between EU and non-EU animation professionals.