INVITATION TO THE KINGSTOON ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2021 - VIRTUAL

Hi there!

The Caribbean’s leading creatives will interface with some of the world’s renowned influencers in the global animation sphere at this year’s KingstOOn Virtual Animation Festival, April 21-25, 2021. We are delighted to invite you to join us for five days of Keynote Presentations, Masterclasses, Panel Discussions, Film Festival, Pitch Competition, Networking Events and an Awards Ceremony.

KingstOOn is 100% virtual and totally free!

We invite you to register to attend at https://kingstoonfest.com/

The KingstOOn team is super excited to see the fruits of months of hard work come to fruition in this years main event - KingstOOn Animation Festival! We could not have done it without you, so thank you so much for being a part of our event.

We opened competitions back in October, in 4 Caribbean Categories: Storyboard, Character Design, Short Films and Concepts. We also opened 4 international categories for everyone: Special Effects Films, Student Films, Short Films and Feature Films.

We had to extend the deadline once, as although we received a lot of international entries, we were looking to get more Caribbean entries, and we got requests for an extension. During this extension participants were allowed to refine and re-submit.

We received 2165 entries from 105 countries. We have come a long way and we believe this demonstrates that KingstOOn is growing and become more international.

We had 16 expert judges who rated the entries. Each entry as rated by 3 judges. The judges eliminated shows that are live action, shows that contain expletive language, nudity, discrimination against race, gender, religion or any ethnic group. The top 5 scoring entries in each category were selected as finalists. In addition to the finalists, a number of films were selected for broadcasting at the KingstOOn Film Festival.

In conclusion, I wish to say a HUGE THANK YOU for participating in our competitions.
Commendations to all of you for the tremendous work you did on producing your films. You are all winners!

Thank you very much!
Robert Reid
Animation Specialist
Office of the Prime Minister
Jamaica

In previous years, finalists would have been invited to Jamaica to participate in KingstOOn. All travel expenses were covered by the Festival. This was one of the prizes that all international submitters were looking forward to. However, due to the pandemic, we were unable to celebrate in person with finalists this year. We look forward to the time when we can all celebrate together in person again.

Thanks to our amazing sponsors we have secured prizes that can assist you with your productions. Prizes include Wacom Drawing Tablets, Toon Boom Harmony and Storyboard Licenses, TVPaint Development Animation Software Licenses, Training opportunities at Toon Boom Animation, A Scholarship to Capilano University's Online Summer Programme, opportunity to negotiate broadcasting, presentation and distribution rights with our media partners, and opportunity to participate in B2B networking sessions with content buyers and sellers.

SUBMISSION PERIOD
Competitions are open during the period October 1, 2020 – February 22, 2021. Due to the overwhelming requests from participants and the KingstOOn Team being aware of some of the challenges Covid19 has caused in our industry, we have decided to EXTEND the Competition Deadline to Friday, March 5, 2021,11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. You now have until that time to submit your entry, or make any edits to your current entry. No entries will be accepted after the extended deadline.

THEME
Strides are being made by the global film and animation industry towards increasing diversity and inclusivity. In recent years, we have seen a greater surge in the need for diverse stories and content, with more representation for under-represented groups in film and TV. The resounding successes of major blockbuster films in the past two years has demonstrated the global demand for diverse and inclusive stories and content.
The KingstOOn competitions are centered around “Celebrating Diversity in Animation”. Entries reflecting characters, stories, cultures and values of under-represented communities in screen-based industries, including stories created by people of African descent, are encouraged.

TYPE
Short films, full length feature films, series, music videos, virtual/augmented reality and video game cinematics are eligible. All entries that contain live action must include at least 75% animation or visual effects.

TECHNIQUE
Techniques accepted are 2D animation, 3D animation, clay animation, sand animation, Anime, Computer Graphics, Puppetry Animation, Stop-Motion, Flip Book Animation, Experimental Animation and any form of animated films that may exist.

WHO CAN ENTER
The competition is open to storytellers, artists, illustrators, animators, students, and professionals. Entries will be accepted from individuals, groups or organizations. A single representative of a group will be responsible for inscribing the work and the prize will be awarded under the same name. There is no age limitation.

THE COMPETITIONS
The KingstOOn Emerging Animated Content Competition (KEACC) is focused on giving visibility to new talent from the Caribbean. Individual entrants must be citizens of a Caribbean country. If the entrant is a group, the representative inscribing the submission on behalf of the group must be citizen of a Caribbean country (all Caribbean countries are eligible).

The four (4) categories in this competition are:
1. Best Storyboard
2. Best Character Design
3. Best Caribbean Short Film
4. Best Concept

The KingstOOn International Animated Film Competition (KIAFC) is open to local, regional and international participants. The four (4) categories in this competition are:

1. Best Special Effects
2. Best Student Film
3. Best International Short Film
4. Best International Feature Film

EXCLUSIONS
• 1st and 2nd place winning entries from previous KingstOOn Competitions (2013, 2016, and 2019) are not eligible for entry.
• Entries completed before 2018 are not eligible.
• Members of the KingstOOn Festival Management Team and their immediate families, persons connected to the competitions and their immediate families, i.e. sponsors, are not eligible to enter the competition.
• Entries must NOT contain expletive language, explicit sexual content and nudity.
• Entries must NOT discriminate against gender, religion or any ethnic group.
• Entries must NOT promote and be affiliated with terrorism, extreme violence, and extreme nationalism.
• The KingstOOn Festival Management Team reserves the right to disqualify any entry that does not conform to the rules.

THE WORK MUST BE ORIGINAL
The entries must be your own original concept and not a copy of anyone else’s copyrighted material. (If your entry infringes upon another’s copyright it will be disqualified.) Upon submitting your entry to this competition, you are solely responsible for any infringement on copyrighted materials. We reserve the right to request proof that your submissions are original artwork created solely by you. Non-compliance to this rule will result in the disqualification of your entry.

COPYRIGHT
The artist retains all copyrights to their work without exception.

PERMISSIONS
By entering this competition, you are granting The Office Of The Prime Minister, a non-exclusive perpetual license to reproduce your entry on kingstoonfest.com, KingstOOn newsletter, KingstOOn Magazine, and KingstOOn social media pages (Facebook@kingstoonfest, Twitter@kingstoonfest, Instagram@kingstOOnfest, www.linkedin.com/in/yedaip-jamaica-248204136/, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-_Nmf2oTkutCRT2-7M4Ang). Entries will not be used for any other purpose than that which is stated. Your work will not be used by the organizers for commercial gain.

LANGUAGE
All entries must be in English, or subtitled in English.

PRESENTATION FORMATS
All film entries must adhere to the following format:
• 1080p (or higher), 1920 x 1080
• 24 frames per second
• Coding H264
Character Designs, Concepts and Storyboards must be in .pdf format.

MULTIPLE ENTRY
Entrants are allowed multiple submissions per category.

COST
Entry is completely FREE!

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • we are so glad for selecting our film, "Malayz", as the finalist in your amazing festival. Thank you KingstOOn Animation Festival team for well planning and organized, In pandemic time.

    May 2021
  • During pendamic, the way it is presented, the concern about animation sector, the masterclasses and topics discussed were really appreciated and it was a very good event altogether. Due to covid we missed an opportunity to visit the jamaica. . .

    May 2021
  • Shaquille Crosse

    The festival was very well executed! The switch to a virtual event this year left nothing to be desired on quality of the production, it was world class! Exposure for most of the categories was phenomenal, and the cast of panelists were stellar! 10/10 will recommend anyone interested in animation to register and/or submit for the next staging of this event!

    May 2021
  • Heaven kid

    Excelente festival. This is a great event to be a part of.

    August 2019
  • It was a great experience. Everyone was very professional and our film got a lot of exposure. Thank you so much.

    July 2019