The Ottawa International Animation Festival is seeking this year’s batch of sassy, savvy movie critics-to-be. This is a chance for kids who spend their Saturday mornings glued to the TV, know the difference between animation styles, or never miss an animated movie in theatres to make an impact on the animation industry.

The OIAF 2019 Kids Jury is a super cool opportunity for cartoon and animation fanatics ages 8 to 12 to judge animation made for young audiences at the biggest animation festival on the continent.

To apply for the Jury, kids are asked to submit one paragraph or a short video about their favourite animated film and why they love it. The ten lucky Jury members (and their families!) will be invited to the Festival on the morning of Saturday, September 28th, to judge one of two Animation for Young Audiences screenings—either Preschool or Ages 6-12. Competition screenings take place at the Ottawa Art Gallery.

These two juries will hem and haw over the short films and TV episodes before they present awards to the winning filmmakers later that evening at the National Arts Centre.

﻿﻿

Japanese artist Mari Miyazawa’s Konigiri-Kun Orugoru (Konigiri-Kun Music Box) won the Best Animation for Young Audiences (Preschool) award in 2018. The Green Bird, a co-production by several French and Belgian animators, took first place in the Ages 6-12 category.

Interested kids should send their paragraph or short video by email to info@animationfestival.ca or by snail mail to the Ottawa International Animation Festival, 2 Daly Avenue, Suite 120, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6E2. Submission deadline is August 30, 2019.