TORONTO – TELETOON is partnering with the Ottawa International Animation Festival to give the network’s Canadian Student Animation Scholarship wider exposure.
Now in its ninth year, the scholarship program has awarded over $230,000 to 87 students across Canada. This year, winners and finalists will have their films screened during the festival. Also new this year, students can apply directly to the festival for selection: in the past, animation schools chose up to 15 applicants from each program to submit their works.
The 2006 scholarship will offer $30,000 to nine students as an entrance scholarship (high school students applying to an animation program), continuing education scholarship (for students already enrolled), and most promising student scholarship (for those who are graduating from an animation program).
“Partnering with OIAF was the next natural step for the scholarship program,” says Len Cochrane, TELETOON’s President. “The festival’s diverse programming, and the platform it offers to artists of all backgrounds, mirrors what the scholarship stands for: encouraging emerging talent, promoting original ideas, and showcasing the best work from home. This year’s candidates have an extraordinary opportunity, thanks to OIAF, to be brought to the world’s attention.”
The scholarship is the only one for student animators in Canada, and the Ottawa festival is the country’s only animation festival.
TELETOON has been a partner with the Ottawa International Animation Festival since the network’s launch in 1997, the same year it created the scholarship.
