HUE PARTNERS WITH YOUNG ANIMATOR OF THE YEAR AWARDS – CALL FOR ENTRIES OPEN SOON!

The MAF team are thrilled to once again team up with Young Animator of the Year UK to celebrate the brightest young animated talent across the nation.

This year’s competition is bigger and better and includes a brand new 19-22 age category. So if you’re aged between 11 and 22, or know someone who is and have a 2D, 3D, or stop-motion short film the YAY team want to see it, so enter the awards for free.

Winners will not only get to see their films receive the big screen treatment at MAF in November and will be invited for private studio tours with animation legends like Aardman, Blue Zoo and Wild Child Animation. The awards is delighted to welcome HUE as a sponsor for this year’s competition — they’re all about sparking creativity and helping young animators bring their stories to life.

Submissions open 12 May 2025 with the final deadline on 1 September 2025. Winners will be announced 9 November 2025 at Manchester Animation Festival!

We can’t wait to see what the next generation of animators will create. Full details on how to enter at younganimator.uk. Get animating — and we’ll see you (and your films) at MAF!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE YAY AWARDS

INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS – CALL FOR ENTRIES NOW OPEN!

We love a short film at MAF, we love a feature film at MAF, but where would this industry be without the everyday heroes contributing to some of our favourite productions and shows? That’s what our Industry Excellence Awards are all about, a chance to celebrate the people working day in and day out on some of our favourite animated content!

We’re now open and FREE to enter in the following categories

Scriptwriting – Scripts by individuals or co-writers. The script does not have to have been broadcast yet.

Storyboarding – Frame by frame storyboards or animatics are accepted.

Character Design – Turnarounds, character designs, artwork or anything that shows the construction of a character.

Character Animation – a showreel of work from a single show is accepted or a single clip – whatever demonstrates the work best.

You can enter yourself, or on behalf of a colleague, just so long as the work was commissioned by a third party and you have the permission of the rights holder to enter the work. More details can be found on our website.

All nominations must be received by Friday 18 July 2025 for projects/work completed after 27 July 2024.

ANIMATING TOMORROW – AN EXCITING GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE WITH THE INNOVATORS OF TOMORROW

At the end of March, Manchester Animation Festival in partnership with the Media City Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub hosted an electrifying two-day celebration of innovation, creativity, and collaboration in animation.

Animating Tomorrow 2025 presented the ultimate event for the North-West animation community, uniting industry talent, trailblazing creatives, and global leaders in creative technology to revolutionise the way we bring stories to life.

With talks from Aardman, Blue Zoo, Cloud Imperium Games, dock10, Industrial Light & Magic, Moho and many more these fantastic speaker sessions were paired with hands-on workshops designed to inspire and empower.

You can catch up with the event by watching the video above or by viewing our photo gallery below. Animating Tomorrow was an event created to benefit animation studios and freelancers in the north-west of England, so stay subscribed to our newsletter and social accounts if you want to find out first when the next free event will take place.

You can catch up with the event by watching the video above or by viewing our photo gallery below. Animating Tomorrow was an event created to benefit animation studios and freelancers in the north-west of England, so stay subscribed to our newsletter and social accounts if you want to find out first when the next free event will take place.

ANIMATING TOMORROW 2025 GALLERY

WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

Our regular roundup of animation screenings, forthcoming releases and happenings in the animation community in the run up to the festival. Here is an event that might interest the animation aficionados amongst you.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (PG)

Dir Wes Anderson / USA 2009 / 87 mins

HOME Mcr

Sat 17 May, 13:00

Based on the classic book by Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox tells a story about wild animals, underground tunnels, explosions, flames, burning things, a brilliantly clever fox, and three of the meanest, nastiest, ugliest farmers you’ll ever know.

BOOK TICKETS

STAY IN THE LOOP!

MAF returns 9-13 November 2025. You can keep up to date with festival developments and our latest year-round events on our social media!