Resounding Success of the Asia Animax Awards – Pan Asian animation scriptwriting competition!

Media News

Mumbai, June 28

Animax Awards, the Animax Pan script writing competition received over three thousand entries this year, from the seven participating countries. The impressive number and quality of the entries received this year demonstrates a fantastic reception to this competition, and it is the first time India participated in the competition.

Originating five years ago in Japan, Animax Awards is a script-writing competition organized by Animax Japan to discover talented people who can make their mark in the animation industry through their writing and/or illustration skills.

The popularity of anime has transcended beyond Japan, and Animax Asia is the authority and home of animation featuring the world's best anime. This year, the theme for the Animax Awards was "A Story I Wish to be Animated", and a total of 1,275 entries were received from Japan, with the remaining 1,994 entries coming from the rest of Asia.

This is the first year that the Animax Awards has branched out to the Indian subcontinent. The competition in its debut year has garnered an impressive 273 entries from a wide age group of 16 – 67 years from across the country, proving that age is no bar for expressions of creativity.

The majority of the entries received this year were of high quality, unique, and encompass a broad range of genres from futuristic cyber-punk to light-hearted whimsicality and from character based romance & drama.. A significant portion of the entries have been sent in by youth between the ages of 15-24. Furthermore, the maiden inclusion of comic and novel scripts to the traditional script format as eligible entry formats in the competition, has offered aspiring animators the opportunity to showcase their talent in the styles that best communicate their ideas. The entries encompassed very detailed efforts to illustrate the novel/comic format.

The entries from the seven regions in Asia – Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), are currently being screened by an eminent expert panel of judges from each country The top entry from each region will then enter into the Grand Finals to compete for the coveted top prize in August 2007.

These entries will then be judged by creative professionals from Japan, including the renowned sci-fi and adventure writer Baku Yumemakura. Besides the lucrative cash prize of JP¥ 2 million (approximately US$18,000), the grand prize winner will also get his or her script developed into an animation piece by top Japanese animation studio, A-1 Pictures of Aniplex, and broadcast across Asia on Animax. Visit www.animaxawards.com for more information and to view previous award-winning works.

And there's more good news – within India itself, the winner (who represents India at the final elimination in Japan) and two runners up will receive loads of prizes – cutting edge electronics, cash prizes, DVDs, posters and limited edition bags – and a chance to have their script converted to a comic book for India.

Commenting on this unique initiative Sunder Aaron, Business Head, Animax India says, "I am really happy with the response we have received from India. The quality of entries we have received was extremely good, with fully developed and illustrated scripts. The contestants have displayed total interest and dedication to their work. The success of this unique initiative has paved the way for Animax for many similar future projects that would give the Indian youth a platform to showcase their talent!"

For information, please contact:

Natasha Amir / Shahnaz Hussain / Pracheta Gupta

LIN Opinion

98205 20818 / 93238 94697 / 98200 94601