Animated Histories Film Festival Submissions

About the festival  

**Submissions for our Animated Histories Film Festival 2025 are now closed! Thank you to everyone who submitted film. Participants will be contacted by the end of February.

We invited submissions of short stop motion animation films for consideration. 

The festival is a great opportunity for all you aspiring animators to not only get creative, but also have your work seen by the award-winning team at the Aardman Academy (and have a chance to win some amazing goodies too!) 

Keep reading for more details on how the submission process worked. Even though submissions are now closed, you can still head over to our ‘Learn how to animate history’ page  for some top tips and inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.

 

Submission requirements

To be considered for the festival, your animation needed to be inspired by a heritage-related story or theme. This could be an English Heritage site or story, or any historical figure or place you know about, including from your own personal heritage.  

The film had to be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes in length and submitted as a MP4 or mov file. 

Your piece needed to be in stop motion style. You can use almost anything to make a stop motion animation including photos, clay/plasticine models, toys, puppets, split-pin puppets, sand, illustrations – or even people!

Check the Full Terms and Conditions here

The Commission

We are especially thrilled to announce an amazing opportunity for the aspiring animator who wins overall in the 18-25 year old category.  

In partnership with the Aardman Academy, we’ll be offering the winner the chance of a paid commission, working alongside our teams to create a new animation film inspired by an English Heritage site or story. You’ll get access to English Heritage experts to help tell the story you choose, and be mentored by the amazing creatives at the Aardman Academy to help develop your skills and increase your animation know-how.  

Categories

There are three age groups for submission, with awards given in age group according to the criteria below. There will also be an overall winner from the 18-25 age group, who will be offered the chance for a commission. 

Age groups:  

11-14/ 15-17/ 18-25 

Award categories: 

  •  Most inspired story
  •  Most creative characters and set
  •  Best animation

Key Dates

Submissions open: 27th September 2024 

Submissions close: 6th January 2025 

Judging of submissions: January 2025 

Announcement of awards: February 2025

Animated Histories festival screening for winners at the Aardman HQ in Bristol: March 2025 

Festival launch online: 28th March 2025 

 

If you have any questions about the festival, your submission or you just need some help, please drop us a line – we’d love to hear from you! shoutoutloud@english-heritage.org.uk