Jamie Graham

We are thrilled to announce that Gorilla Post was the winner of “Best Sound Design” at this year’s (virtual) IAA Awards! Produced by Pink Kong Studios, the sound design and mix on animated short ‘The Dead Hands of Dublin’ was carried out by our wonderfully talented Francisco Rios and Mark Fitzpatrick. ‘The Dead Hands of Dublin’ also won “Best Sound” at The British Animation Film Festival earlier this month, plus “Best Sound” at the Independent Horror Film Festival last month! We couldn’t be more delighted with the success of this project.

This year’s IAA was a special one for Gorilla Post as we were also nominated for “Best Sound Design” on ‘Dorg Van Dango’, the animated series produced by Cartoon Saloon and Wildbrain now airing on Nickelodeon. ‘Dorg’ was another fantastic project we worked on over the past 2 years. Congrats to our sound designer Shane O’Toole for the nomination who did an amazing job for a challenging genre (comedy-action, 9-12 yr olds).

Congrats to all winners and nominees this year in what has been a difficult 12 months for everyone. Let’s hope normal service can resume for the next awards in 2023 where we can all get together again in person to celebrate the continued success of the industry. Huge thanks and kudos to the organisers, Animation Ireland, for going ahead with the event this year and doing such a great job in the circumstances.

The full list of winners for IAA 2021 is below.

Best Animated Preschool Series (up to 6 years)

Claude – Twinkle Toes Terry: Sixteenth South

Best Animated Preschool Series (6 years+)

Boy, Girl, Dog, Cat, Mouse, Cheese: Kavaleer Productions

Best Animated Short Film

Her Song: Éabha Bortolozzo, Jack Kirwan, Radii Animation

Best International Short Film

Something Borrowed: Micky Wozny and Andrew St Maur

Best Writer for Preschool Animation (up to 6 years)

Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese – Neighbourhood Watchdog: Baljeet Rai, Henry Gifford, Kavaleer Productions

Best Writer for an Animated Series

Vampirina: Home Scream Home – Chris Nee/ Brown Bag Films

Best Animation Sequence

Wolfwalkers: Cartoon Saloon

Best Animation for Apps, Gaming and Interactive

TOT COP: Jason and Meabh Tammemagi, Mooshku

Best Design and Art Direction

Wolkwalkers: Maria Pareja, Cartoon Saloon

Best Director of an Animated TV Series

Dorg Van Dango: Fabian Erlinghauser, Matt Ferguson, Cartoon Saloon

Best Animation

The Bird and the Whale: Eimhin McNamara, Carol Freeman/ Paper Panther

Best Music

Dorg Van Dango: Leo Pearson, Cartoon Saloon

Best Sound Design

Dead Hands of Dublin: Fransisco Rios, Gorilla Post, Pink Kong Studios

Best Irish Feature Film or Special

Wolfwalkers: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Cartoon Saloon

Best Storyboarding

Zog and the Flying Doctors: Stephen Duignan, Christian Puille and Greta Traldi

Best Editing

WolfWalkers: Richie Cody, Darragh Byrne, Darren Holmes A.C.E, Cartoon Saloon

Best Student Film

Shergar: Cora McKenna

Best Irish IP

Critters TV – Series 1: Aidan O’Donovan, Colm Tobin, Turnip & Duck

Best Newcomer

Studio Meala

Kid’s Choice Award For Best Pre-School Animated Series (up to 6 years)

Sir Mouse: Salty Dog Pictures

Kid’s Choice Award For Best Animated Series (6-12 years)

Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese: Kavaleer Productions

The 2019 Irish Animation Awards kicked off last weekend in Dingle. A great celebration of Ireland’s animation success and talent was had throughout the course of the weekend. With animation rapidly growing in Ireland there was no stopping the fantastic atmosphere and pride during the awards and events over the IAA weekend.

With Gorilla Post as a sponsor for the awards, they were delighted to have their very own Barry Reid, Shane O’Toole and Mark Fitzpatrick nominated for “Best Sound Design” for their work on Gingerbread / Disney’s animated series ‘Space Chicken’s In Space’. The show which was nominated for multiple awards took home two awards on the night – “Best VFX as part of Animated TV Series or Film” and “Kid’s Choice Award For Best Animated Series (6-12 years)”.

Gorilla are proud to have worked on many other projects nominated on the night including – ‘Late Afternoon’ (Cartoon Saloon), “Pete The Cat” (Amazon Studio / Surfer Jack / Cartoon Saloon), ‘Captain Morten and The Spider Queen’ (Telegael / Salamander Films), ‘Hopscotch & The Christmas Tree’ (Ink & Light), to name a few.

The variety of animation and projects celebrated at the awards is a testament to the immence talent that Ireland has within the industry.  

Nora Twomey was awarded the “Murakami Award” on the night with a standing ovation from all. Her feature film ‘The Breadwinner’ won for “Best Irish Feature Film or Special” earlier in the night. 

With celebration carrying on till late, a great weekend was had by all. Congratulations to the nominees and winners!

The full list of winners can be seen below. Here’s to the next awards! 

You can find the full list of awards winners listed below.

Best Animated Preschool Series (up to 6 years)

Vampirina: Going Batty – Brown Bag Films

Best Animated Short Film

The Wiremen: Jessica Patterson/ JAM Media

Best International Short Film

All the Things- Chris Guyot & Paul McMahon (USA/IRL)

Best Writer for Preschool Animation (up to 6 years)

Becca’s Bunch: Acorn King- Shane Langan & Amy Stephenson

Best Writer for an Animated Series

Vampirina: Home Scream Home -Chris Nee/ Brown Bag Films

Best VFX as part of Animated TV Series or Film

Space Chickens in Space – Paul Rutledge/ Gingerbread Animation

Best Animation for Apps, Gaming and Interactive

Aurora- Pink Kong Studios

Best Design and Art Direction

The Bird and the Whale- Carol Freeman/ Paper Panther Productions

Best Director of an Animated TV Series

Danger Mouse- Aidan McAteer/ Boulder Media

Best Animation

The Bird and the Whale- Eimhin McNamara & Carol Freeman/ Paper Panther

Best Music

Danger Mouse: Melted- Sanj Sen and Dominic Lawrence /Boulder Media

Best Sound Design

Danger Mouse- Dominic Lawrence and Sol O’Carroll/ Windmill Lane

Best Irish Feature Film or Special

The Breadwinner- Nora Twomey/ Cartoon Saloon

Best Newcomer

Paper Panther Productions

Kid’s Choice Award For Best  Pre-School Animated Series (up to 6 years)

The Doc Mc Stuffins Christmas Special-Brown Bag Films

Kid’s Choice Award For Best Animated Series (6-12 years)

Space Chickens in Space- Gingerbread Animation

Murakami Award

Nora Twomey