The DRAWTASTIC Animation Festival's "GOLDEN PENCIL AWARDS" celebrates animation of all kinds and from every corner of the world. It's core, underlying mission however is to especially honor, support and showcase traditional hand-drawn animation in this increasingly challenging digital age.

Founded in 2005 - and originally known as "The 2D OR NOT 2D ANIMATION FESTIVAL" - the inaugural event was opened by the late, great ROY E. DISNEY, nephew of Walt. DRAWTASTIC has grown increasingly ever since and is now entirely hosted online.

DRAWTASTIC has attracted major speaker visits by many of the top names in the industry - including twice Oscar-nominated TOMM MOORE, legendary Disney producer DON HAHN, 'Mulan' director BARRY COOK, industry legend RICHARD WILLIAMS, 2DFX & graphic novel genius MICHEL GAGNE and 'Simpsons' animator SILVIA POMPEI, among many others.

The highlight of the festival program is always the announcement and presentation of the "Golden Pencil Awards" each year. This 2023 event is our 12th ever!

Note: If you wish to see the 2022 festival show in it's entirety, you can do so by signing up as a member of the 2D ANIMAKERS network. Membership is FREE - and there you'll find many other FREE or paid-for courses and goodies to keep the animator within you extremely happy! URL: https://www.animakers.club

"Loved the festival. Some excellent and moving work and I am so honored to be part of it. Thank you again, Tony and Drawtastic." ~ 2021 Golden Pencil Award winner, Elizabeth Lewis.

Awards & Prizes

* All accepted films for online screening will receive a "Finalist" laurel award.
* All top scoring screener films will receive a respected "Golden Pencil Award", regardless of technique or category.
* All "Golden Pencil Award" winning, and "Finalist" films will be screened at our annual online, on-demand festival.

Rules & Terms

Animated films entered need to have been completed after January 1st 2019, unless otherwise stated.

Submitted films must have all presentation rights cleared and approved for online and public screening by the festival organizers prior to their submission.

DRAWTASTIC accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any film screened on behalf of the festival that has not been previously approved.

All submitted films will pre-screened by the festival organizers for suitability and judging, prior to the event.

Should festival judges consider a film not suitable for the category it is entered into - or if there are less than 3 entries for a particular category - they reserve the right to transfer that film to a more suitable category, or else withdraw it entirely.

If the judges feel that none of the entries in any particular category do not achieve the "Golden Pencil Award" standard anticipated, then no award will be given for that category. At the same time, non award-winning films can still be screened at the festival regardless.

Golden Pencil Award-winning films will be announced in early May 2023 and all screened films will screened online in early June. before The organizers of the festival reserve the right to privately screen films after that for members of the 2D ANIMAKERS network.

Filmmakers will be informed 1 week ahead of the announcement of their winning film, so they have time to prepare social media promotion material should they choose.

Award-winning and Finalist filmmakers will be required to supply DRAWTASTIC Animation Festival a high quality screener copy of their film, upon request.

Award-winning and Finalist filmmakers will be asked NOT to announce the results of the judging until after the DRAWTASTIC Animation Festival formally announces the results through their social networks.

The festival organizers retain the right to modify any of these rules, should a need arise through unexpected or unanticipated circumstances, although they will not do so until all festival entered filmmakers have first been informed.

Animators entering films for our 2023 festival confirm their agreement to these rules by doing so.
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  • Robert Brown

    Great awards festival, keeping 2d animation alive! I was delighted that my short animated film 'Fire and Water' was a semi finalist here!

    May 2022
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  • Manuel Lopez

    Had a great time watching the festival! And it was truly an honor to be featured in the selection! Thank you Tony and the entire Drawtastic crew for the amazing work you do to make this happen! Thank you for what you do for 2D animation!

    April 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Manuel for your kind comments - and for entrusting us with your wonderful film. Together we can ALL keep traditional hand-drawn animation alive around the world! Looking forward to seeing your next film! :)

  • Elizabeth Lewis

    I loved the festival from beginning to end. I am so proud to have been a part of this especially to be awarded.

    March 2021
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks for you kind comment Elizabeth. It was a joy to see and celebrate your film! Looking forward to the next one! :)

  • Joe Chang

    This is a very good film festival and I am honored to join it. Thank you for your contribution!

    November 2019
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  • Han Zhang

    Thank you for supporting 2D animation!!!
    It is fantastic that the DRAWTASTICON blog was updated day by day, and introducing the film, filmmakers and production process.
    Very Good!

    March 2017
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