Nicktoons Network Animation Festival is using a sweepstakes to help drive people to its Web site to vote for their favorite animation.
The event is the first animation festival showcasing the best animation has to offer in the 10 minute and under format. The festival takes place on-air and online. The winners will be culled from 3,100 works submitted between April and June.
Visitors to the site, NicktoonsNetwork.com/nnaf, have been able to cast their votes for daily animation entries posted after they aired on Nicktoons. They can also register for the sweepstakes to win art kits, with one awarded daily, consisting of colored pencils, paint and other materials.
The festival culminates with the award of a $20,000 development grant to the winner.
A creative development team from Nickelodeon Network will designate the grant winner, who will apply that money to developing and pitching ideas for a short-form show to that team. The grant will be awarded today during a two-day event at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios. The event will include an exclusive screening of the festival’s winning short on the second day, along with a preview of Nickelodeon’s soon-to-debut animation series “Tak and the Power of Juju.”
A panel of celebrity judges will also designate an overall festival winner, who will receive a $10,000 cash prize. The Viewer’s Choice Award will also be announced along with the $10,000 top prize during a “Best Of Nicktoons” special airing the top 10 entries on Aug. 31.
Nicktoons’s target demographic is ages six to 14. The digital network claims a universe of 48 million cable, digital cable and satellite households.