The nominees for this year’s Irish Animation Awards have been announced by Animation Ireland, the representative trade body for Irish animation studios, and we're delighted to share that we have received a whopping 10 nominations!

The Irish Animation Awards are a biennial event, celebrating more than 2,500 highly skilled animation professionals who make and create across the island of Ireland, from Dublin to Galway, Belfast to Cork. Irish animated films and series are enjoyed by children and adults in 182 countries worldwide, with Irish animation studios and their workforces in huge demand internationally, valued for their creativity, craft, professionalism and commitment.

Our homegrown series Lu & The Bally Bunch has been nominated in 4 categories! Receiving nods for Best New IP, Best SCRIPT for a FEATURE FILM OR SPECIAL, Best Feature Film or Special and Best VOICE ACTING for Freya McLaughlin who voices the character of Lu.

Produced by 9 Story Media Group and our Brown Bag Films studios in Dublin and Toronto, Lu & The Bally Bunch was created and directed by Brown Bag Films’ director Nicky Phelan (Vampirina, Bing, Octonauts), Oscar®-nominated for his short film Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.

Lu & The Bally Bunch follows Lu, a little ladybird who has just started preschool with her new friends. Together they explore their brand new social lives though play, music, big feelings and even bigger fun. The series, which was inspired by Nicky’s mother’s experience running a preschool, celebrates the messy reality of preschool and explores the everyday dramas of first friendships. Lu & The Bally Bunch is a funny and affectionate look at Lu and her friends as they learn to get along. Featuring original songs and grounded in a curriculum of preschool empowerment, stories are rooted in authentic interactions and experiences, inspired by conversations with preschoolers, their parents and teachers.

You can watch Lu & The Bally Bunch around the world on Cartoonito (UK, LatAm), CBeebies (UK), CBC Kids (CND), ABC (AU), TVNZ+ (NZ), and RTÉ (Ireland).

Dee & Friends in Oz has received 3 nominations for Best Direction of an Animated TV Series, Best VFX ANIMATION, and Best Storyboarding for Irene Martini (Storyboard Artist, Brown Bag Films Dublin)

Inspired by the world of L. Frank Baum’s iconic books, Dee & Friends in Oz is an animated preschool musical adventure which follows Dorothy “Dee” Davis. When Dee’s book unlocks a portal to the wonderful, whimsical, and magical World of Oz, she’ll soon learn that this story needs a hero. In a journey to rescue Oz and bring magic back to the land, Dee will meet new friends, defy expectations, and do things she never dreamed she could do. And of course, she’ll rewrite the story of Oz… with herself as its hero!

Created by Emmy-winner Angela C. Santomero, and developed by Emmy-nominated writers Halcyon Person and Keion Jackson, the series is directed by Declan Doyle (“Get Rolling with Otis” and “Doc McStuffins”) in our Brown Bag Films Dublin studio with animation services by our Bali studio.

You can stream Dee & Friends in Oz globally on Netflix.

Our charming animated kids and family original series for Apple TV+, Eva the Owlet has recieved 2 nominations for Best Design and Art Direction and Best Editing.