GAME DAY!!
Are you ready 24 HOURS Contestants?!?
The day is finally here, and its time to get started!! This page will be essential for you to follow along with the rest of the world for this international contest, so be sure to review the information here carefully.
Submitting Your Film!
As stated in the Contest Rules/FAQ page, to officially submit your film, you will need to fill out the Final Submission Form. To review some of that important information, here are the key points:
- ALL TEAMS: You have to make a NEW Youtube account with your TEAM NAME not your personal YouTube account. That way the judges do not see the team members name. Do not share your film with anyone until the winners are announced.
- Make sure your YouTube channel is set to public, NOT UNLISTED or the judges may not be able to see your film. DO NOT designate your film “content for kids” or it will be blocked from playing on our playlist.
- All films must be 30 seconds long (not including TEAM NAME CARD) –films that are longer than 30 seconds will be disqulaified
- Films are due BEFORE 4:00pm PDT (16:00 HRS) Saturday October 14th, 2023. 4:01pm PDT (16:01) is considered LATE and LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE DISQULAIFIED so please plan for technical troubleshooting, test all links and send email ahead of time for guarantee of delivery.
- Do not share your film with anyone until the winners are announced.
Below this information, we have provided the links to the Final Submission Form, and the Final Films Google Drive. Click on the links be to be redirected to the 123Forms site, and fill out the required information. IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR FILM WITH THIS FORM, YOUR FILM WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. After you complete the submission form you will be redirected to the google drive to upload your video file. For your convenience, we have also provided the link to the drive below. By uploading your film file you agree that 24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students may use your film for any reason related to 24 HOURS promotion and fundraising.
24 HOURS THEME 2023
In 2023 at the Academy Awards for best animated film, presenters Halle Bailey, Naomi Scott and Lily James alluded to animation being a genre for kids, poking fun at the parents that had to suffer through watching it for their children. The animation community was enraged and knew all too well that our artform was once again stuffed into a box that doesn’t come close to explaining the artistry and story potential that goes into our vast medium.
Animation has the ability to exaggerate beyond what any live action film can do. Like explaining puberty through the analogy of a talking red panda in Turning Red, or the comical repeat annihilation of Wile E. Coyote, or the subtle (yet surreal) subjective POV of a bored customer service guru shown by all characters having the same face in Anamolisa.
And the claim that animation is “just for kids” of course is not applicable in other adult themed films like Grave of the Fireflies, Flee or The Breadwinnner.
So when Guillermo del Toro won Best Animated Feature last year for his stop motion film Pinocchio the topic of the validity of animation came to the forefront as del Toro bellowed from the awards shows, pleading with the academy to recognize that animation is not a genre and to give animation a seat at the cinematic table.
Will we one day see animators being recognized alongside all the other creative achievements in film? After all, animated films are the epitome of world building where its creators have control over even the smallest decision in the film – as every frame must be designed, animated and made to be believable.
One can only hope animation will be taken more seriously as audiences and critics alike become more knowledgeable about the laborious process and artistry that goes into every scene.
So….
In 24 HOURS make a 30 second film showing us the potential of animated film making as a thank you to our incredible artform.
This is a call to arms! A celebration! A love letter to animation!
Show us how animation at its very nature has properties that can be explored in ways that no other medium has. From art direction to movement to unique design and subjective storytelling – use all of the elements animation has at its disposal to show us what makes it such a powerful and creative medium.
You have 24 HOURS….
24 HOURS 2023 Schedule
Here is our schedule for this year! We have added helpful color coded *suggested* production stages by the hour for the contest so please give this a thorough review before you start planning your film. You can click on the link below the image to download the PDF for this years schedule.
24 HOURS 2023 Livestream
‘TOON’ in to the livestream on October 13, 2023 at 3:00 pm PDT! The livestream can be viewed below, or you can click the button below to view it in a new tab. The theme will be announced and posted on this page at 4:00 pm PDT. So if you missed the livestream, you can check back on this page at that time to view this essential information.
Special Message from Tomm Moore
Irish filmmaker, animator, illustrator and comics artist. He co-founded Cartoon Saloon with Nora Twomey and Paul Young,[1] an animation studio and production company based in Kilkenny, Ireland. His first three feature films, The Secret of Kells (2009), co-directed with Nora Twomey, Song of the Sea (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020), co-directed with Ross Stewart, have received critical acclaim and were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
24 HOURS Sponsors 2023
You may have noticed the 24 HOURS Animated logo and trailer at the start of the Livestream. This was created and paid for by one of our major sponsors this year – thank you Toon Boom for your incredibly generous gift. Toon Boom has also sponsored huge prizes for all 7 winning teams and also monetary sponsorship this year.
This year due to our extremely generous sponsorship donation we have raised an astonishing $165K+ in sponsorship prizes that will be awarded to 7 incredible teams this year. We will award 5 teams of college students, 1 team of High School students – and a special Behind the Scenes prize.
Sponsors also wanted to give more this year to you hard working students and are allowing us to award cash prizes to ALL SEVEN WINNING TEAMS! Please join me in thanking this year’s incredible sponsors:
- Toon Boom
- ASIFA-Hollywood
- AEF
- XP Pen
- Cartoon Saloon
- Bento Box
- Nickelodeon and
- NICE (Nickelodeon Community Efforts team)
- TAAFI
- CSU Summer Arts
- Wacom
- TV Paint
- Digicel
- CRC Press
- Huion
- CTN
- X in a Box
- Xencelabs
- Mac Hollywood
- Animation is Film
- Stuart NG Books
- Legends Animated
- DreamWorks
- Walt Disney Animation
- Pixar
- Sony Pictures Animation
24 HOURS Judges 2023
We are so pleased to announce this year’s lineup of Judges for 24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students! Here they are as follows:
Evally Owo Aguila –Director and Storyboard Artist (Disney, StarWars Galaxy of Creatures and Galaxy Pals)
Alex Smeaton – Animator (Cartoon Network, Apple TV+, Cartoon Saloon, Titmouse)
Chaz Bottoms – Animation Director and founder of CBA Studios (Disney, Lil Nas X, Adult Swim, John Legend, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Apple TV+)
Sam de Caccatty – Animation writer/director (Lillith & Eve, Partizan)
Wilma Miranda – Animation Director (Apeship Studios), Animator (Atención Atención, Room to Read, Prime Video (The Boys), and BSCS Science Learning.)
Derrick Malik Johnson – Story and Layout Artist (A24, Gylee Games, Cartoon Network, Disney, TVA and Titmouse Inc.)
The judges will be evaluating films using the following criteria (10 points each):
1. Storytelling – Was the story clear, entertaining?
2. Art Direction/Animation – How was the production value of the film?
3. Creativity/Interpretation of Theme – How creative was the team’s interpretation of the assigned topic?
4. Level of Completion – How much of the film was completed?
Winniner Announcement
Winners will be announced on Friday October 20th at 12pm PDT (12:00) via YouTube live –same channel as here: 24HOURS Animation Contest for Student ( link will be posted on website) and prizes will be awarded from our fabulous sponsors.
*24 HOURS cannot be held responsible for unsent/unreceived prizes.
Winning films will be added to official 24 HOURS playlist and all films that made it into the top 100 will be added ranked in order. This will take some time, so please do not ask us where your film is. If we do not get it on the google drive we cannot add it to the playlist.