Radio / Television News

Nelvana wins technical Emmy


TORONTO — Corus Entertainment’s kids content producer and distributor, Nelvana, announced today it has received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for its web-based animation production and asset management system, Nelnet.

Nelvana was recognized under the category of “Pioneering Secure Cloud-Based VFX Project Management and Collaboration at Scale”, having shown excellence in engineering creativity.

“Nelnet assists animation production for long-form 3D and 2D digital formats in which tasks, tools and production assets are distributed to crewmembers and stakeholders around the world through its platform. Requiring only an Internet browser to use, the project management and collaboration system has been used to produce and manage over 2,760 episodes of beloved Nelvana series, including Rolie Polie Olie, Franklin & Friends, Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe, The Most Magnificent Thing, Mike The Knight, Thomas and Friends, and more, since 2004,” reads Nelvana’s press release.

The company says the system was created in-house by Nelvana’s technology team to better support the division of workflow into tasks or stages and their assignment to crewmembers who may be located inside or outside the studio. The system also manages distribution of production assets to those individuals, and delivers production pipeline tools and services to the end user who can be located anywhere with a device appropriate to the task and an Internet connection, says the release.

“Congratulations to Ross Maudsley, our head of Nelvana operations and technology, and the entire Nelvana team on this huge accomplishment,” said Pam Westman, president of Nelvana, in the release. “We are incredibly proud of the advantage Nelnet has provided our teams in producing and delivering first-class children’s content globally and are delighted to be recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Science as we prepare to celebrate Nelvana’s 50th anniversary later this year. The capabilities of this state-of-the-art system are more important than ever during Covid-19 and it was a crucial asset when we transitioned our animation production team to working remotely last March.”

“It is truly an honour to be recognized by such an esteemed organization as the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,” said Maudsley. “We developed Nelnet as a means to streamline our team’s animation production with ease of use in mind and over the years, it has evolved and developed into a powerful platform that has provided outstanding efficiencies for our team and our partners.”

Nelvana, along with this year’s other recipients, will be honoured at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony, which is scheduled to be a virtual event in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters as part of their fall NAB Show on Sunday, October 10, 2021.

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