My Father’s Dragon Dominates Irish Animation Awards

Cartoon Saloon’s animated fantasy film My Father’s Dragon came out on top at the 2023 Irish Animation Awards (Saturday 27^th May) with five wins, including Best Irish Feature. My Father’s Dragon was directed by Oscar® nominated Nora Twomey.

Igloo Animation’s children’s series produced for RTÉjr, Tales from Dún Draíochta came away with two wins, including Best Animated Kids Series. Sixteen South’s preschool series Odo also bagged two awards on the night.

The biennial awards ceremony was held in-person for the first time since 2019 and was hosted by Irish TV and radio star, Baz Ashmawy in Galway. This was a record year for the Irish Animation Awards as 53 Irish productions were nominated.

The ceremony this year featured the inaugural Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award, which was presented to Teresa Mc Grane, formerly of Screen Ireland, who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support and nurture the growth of the Irish Animation industry.

Commenting on the awards ceremony, Animation Ireland’s Chief Executive, Ronan McCabe said; “It has been yet another superb and record-breaking year for Irish animation with 53 productions nominated. The sector is continuing to power ahead both in terms of the quality of the work being produced, which you can certainly see from the awards ceremony and the number of productions being delivered. The Irish Animation Awards is a wonderful occasion to celebrate the hard work, dedication, talent and outstanding creativity we have here in Ireland.’’

Ronan went on to say “Animation Ireland puts a huge emphasis on education and training and helping the next generation of animators to thrive, so it was amazing to see so many fantastic entries for Best Student Film, which was won by Avery Angle for Small Makings of a Storm. Thanks very much to our sponsors for their support, all twenty-seven of them! The response from the industry has been overwhelming and whilst our headline sponsors are RTÉ and Screen Ireland, we could not have run this event without all of them and in this instance they are truly too numerous to mention!’’

Winners of each category received a statuette designed by animator, film maker and teacher Eimhín McNamara. The statuette resembles a Phenakistoscope, an early animation device used to create an illusion of motion.

Animation Ireland is the trade association for Ireland’s animation studios, representing forty-four member studios, who employ more than two thousand people on the island of Ireland. The sector has seen meteoric growth in recent years, with the industry now generating almost €200 million for the economy annually, as Irish animation projects are viewed in over 190 countries worldwide.