Sheridan graduates and students receive 12 Annie Award nominations

Eleven graduates of Sheridan College have been nominated for 2016 Annie Awards recognizing the year’s top achievements in the field of animation.

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood will announce the winners of the Annie Awards, the industry’s top honour, on February 6, 2016 in Los Angeles.

Sheridan is proud to report that four of the ten nominees graduated from Sheridan’s Bachelor of Animation program within the past five years, further strengthening the program’s ongoing reputation for excellence.

The following Sheridan alumni have been nominated for 2016 Annie Awards:

BJ Crawford (Classical Animation, 2000): Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production, The Peanut s Movie (Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation)

Tapan Gandhi (Bachelor of Animation, 2009): Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Television/ Broadcast Production, Pickle and Peanut, Episode: “Swim Lessons” (Disney Television Animation)

Kevin Martel (Classical Animation, 1996): Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production, Jurassic World – Indominus Rex (Universal Studios / Legendary Pictures)

Taha Neyestani (Bachelor of Animation, 2015): Best Student Film, ed (To view Taha Neyestani's film online, click here). 

Alexander Poei (Art Fundamentals, 1996 & Classical Animation, 1999): Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production, The Revenant – The Bear (Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Anonymous Content, M Productions, Appian Way, RatPac-Dune Entertainment)

Allison Rutland (Computer Animation, 2003): Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production – Inside Out (Pixar Animation Studios)

Domee Shi (Bachelor of Animation, 2011): Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production, Inside Out (Pixar Animation Studios)

Mike Smukavic (Classical Animation, 1993): Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production, Hotel Transylvania 2 (Sony Pictures Animation) 

Jeffrey Thompson (Art Fundamentals, 2003 & Bachelor of Animation, 2010): Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production, Gravity Falls, Episode: “Xpcveaoqfoxso (Weirdmageddon)” (Disney Television Animation)

Melody Wang (Bachelor of Animation, 2015): Best Student Film, The Casebook of Nips & Porkington (To view Melody Wang's film online, click here). 

Stephen Wood (Technical Animation, 1989): Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production, Home (DreamWorks Animation)

Students in their third year of Sheridan’s Bachelor of Animation program were nominated in the Best Student Film category as well for Mother: Stephanie Chiew, Joan Chung, David Du, Matthew Fazari, Ana Gomez, Rui Hao, Jessica Jing, Seeyun Lee, Nick Nason and Danny Wang. (To view Mother online, click here). 

The creative talents of Sheridan alumni are behind many of the productions nominated for Annie Awards this year. Sheridan graduates have contributed to the films nominated for Best Animated Feature, including Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur (both Pixar Animation Studios), Shaun the Sheep The Movie (Aardman Animations) as well as The Peanuts Movie (Blue Sky Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Animation).

Sheridan graduates are also part of the teams whose work garnered nominations in the categories of Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children and Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children. Nominated studios including Nickelodeon, Nelvana, Disney Television Animation and Cartoon Network Studios employ many Sheridan alumni.

Sheridan is renowned for its animation programming, which includes a Bachelor of Animation and post-graduate certificates in computer animation, visual effects and digital character animation.  In 2013, Sheridan introduced a Bachelor of Game Design program.