Announcement of "Cyber Sousa Award" winners of the 16th Xiamen International Animation Festival

Unleash original creativity to boost the growth of animation and gaming industries. On November 21, the winners of "Cyber Sousa Award" of the 2024 (16th) Xiamen International Animation Festival were announced in Jimei, Xiamen. This competition involves two categories: animation and game. After fierce competition, 66 animation works, including "Oh My School!", "Chang An" and "Boonie Bears: Time Twist‌", as well as 18 game works, have won the awards.

As an important part of the Xiamen International Animation Festival, the "Cyber Sousa Award" Animation Competition, after 16 years of accumulation, has become one of China's most prestigious animation competitions, offering the highest prize money and the broadest reach, and it is also the only competition in China recognized by ASIFA (Association International du Film d'Animation), with increasingly higher levels of marketization, internationalization and branding. The outstanding works that have emerged from previous competitions shine brightly like stars, illuminating the new future of animation and gaming industries.

Since its inception in 2008, Xiamen International Animation Festival has always been promoting mainstream values and showcasing the achievements in animation and gaming industries. The prestigious "Cyber Sousa Award" competitions are hosted to drive the integrated development of competition and industry; a series of themed forums are held to gather industry leaders to explore cutting-edge directions; and business conferences are organized to facilitate industry exchanges, transactions, and project implementation. The Animation Festival not only provides opportunities for creative expression and showcasing outstanding works, but also plays a significant role in integrating industry resources and promoting high-quality development of the animation and gaming industries.

Inspiring Premium Original Animations

Since the launch of this year's "Cyber Sousa Award" Animation Competition in June, a total of 3,370 entries from 40 countries and regions worldwide have been received. After preliminary and final evaluations by 24 domestic and international expert judges, in total 11 awards, including the Best Animated Feature Film, Best Animated Series, Best Animated Short Film and Best Comic, were granted to 66 animation works, sharing a prize pool of 1.3 million yuan.

"The 'Cyber Sousa Award' Animation Competition has become China's longest-running and most international animation and comic event with judges of the highest caliber." On the award ceremony, Li Zhongqiu, the Vice President of ASIFA (Association International du Film d'Animation), highly praised the Cyber Sousa Award. He stated that Xiamen's animation industry had been closely integrated with the new-generation information technologies, such as artificial intelligence and metaverse, perfectly aligning with current development trends of pan-animation industry. "Under the global perspective of Xiamen International Animation Festival, Xiamen has been China's first to break the traditional development pattern of animation industry, paving a new path for expanding pan-animation industry with information technologies."

Holding a "Cyber Sousa Award" trophy, Yan Kai, the director of the "Best Animated Feature Film Gold", "Oh My School!", felt especially excited. He said that to complete the animated film "Oh My School!", his team learned and explored step by step, spending a total of five years. "Our original intention in making animations was to continuously create something wonderful for the audience, bringing some imaginative and humorous contents. Winning this award is a great motivation for us. And we will continue to work hard and give back to our audience with excellent works."

Building a Platform to Help Game Companies

This year's "Cyber Sousa Award" Game Competition featured 9 award categories, sharing total prize money of 690,000 yuan. A total of 388 entries from 26 countries and regions were received, including the submissions from student teams of 53 universities at home and abroad. After being reviewed by the judges, 18 games won the awards.

The games "Back to the Dawn" and "Cyber Manhunt 2" created by the Spiral Up Games team from Shanghai won the "Best Game Gold" and "Best Game Bronze" respectively. Wu Kaiwen, the Business Manager of Spiral Up Games, introduced that "Back to the Dawn" was a retro pixel-style game, while "Cyber Manhunt 2" was an adventure game themed on cybersecurity. "We believe that games, as a form of art, should not only provide players with an enjoyable experience but also offer insightful stories that leave players with something meaningful."

Wu Kaiwen also stated that Spiral Up Games was a young team, and winning the "Cyber Sousa Award" helped enhance their brand reputation. "We also hope to stand on this competition platform to reach more domestic game developers and enhance communication and collaboration among us."

Discussing the New Trends in Animation Creation

This event also provides a platform for animation and game creators to connect and share their ideas. During the theme sharing session, some experienced professionals in animation industry shared their insights on new animation technologies and the integration of animation with game, drawing from their creative experiences.

The cutscene "Deaf" of the domestic AAA game "Black Myth: Wukong" is made in a stop-motion animation style, leaving a deep impression on many players. Weng Jie, the Director of "Deaf," explained that stop-motion animation had a strong stylistic quality. It not only created stunning visual effects but also helped pull players out of the game experience to appreciate deeper meaning of the story.

Yang Zhen, co-founder of Shengying Culture, shared his insights on "Analysis on the Development and Creation of Game-Derived Animation." He stated that games focused heavily on interactive entertainment, while animations emphasized content expression. Games needed animation to attract and drive new users, thereby "breaking the mold" and expanding the influence of IP. Besides, game-based animations often had a rich cultural core, beneficial for IP building.

Additionally, Gong Lei, the Vice President of Sparkkey Studio, gave some examples to explain how AI can empower animation production. And Gao Xiang, the founder of "Aotu World," shared his thoughts on expanding animation IP content and its commercial monetization.