| Bowling Green State University, The Hodgepodgians |
| Valerie Garblik, Kuang-Chen Hsu, Cory Neill, Elizabeth Osterhues, Scott Wohlwend, and Bonnie Mitchell, Advisor |
| Cal State University of Long Beach, The PBC Factory |
| Steve Eat, Vincent Lee, Nathan Rico, George Fleming, Bopha Sem and Advisor, Aubry Mintz |
| College for Creative Studies, Nerd Fighters |
| Mike Blaszkowski, Niles Bontrager, Katie Burck, Mel Miller, Patrick Stannard and Advisor, Steve Stanchfield |
| Ferris State University, Flying Bulldogs |
| John Jurries, Joshua Mayle, Scott Castleberry, Andrew Smith, Jacob Truong and Advisor, David Baker |
| Humber College, Team Insomnia |
| Daniel Gillison, James Murchison, Michelle Ryan, Stephen Smith, Warren Slopper and Advisor, Terry Posthumus |
| Kendall College of A & D, Kendall Keyframe Junkies |
| Adam Chapin, Cang Du, Kristin Chapman, Justin Foley, Matthew Geerling and Advisor, Brad Yarhouse |
| San Jose State University, Super Natural Shrunkenheadman Squad |
| Renee Carty, Candace Downey, Bryan Lind, Micah Sibert, Corey Tom and Advisor, David Chai |
| Savannah College of A & D, Team Fuselage |
| Mike Chapman, Mason Gardner, Nathan Taylor, Alex Snow, Andrew Miller and Advisor, Troy A. Gustafson |
| South Dakota State University, The Jackrabbits |
| Isaac Windham, Eric Say, Lynette Lobien, Chris Biewer and Advisor, Cable Hardin |
| University of Saint Francis, Fist Full Of Doll Hairs |
| Charlene Griffin, Christopher Lowe, Chris McCormick, Benjamin Tiede, Maggie Ward and Advisor, Kevin McNulty |
Check out the great PSAs created by past Challenge Teams
2007- Theme: Global Warming2005- Theme: Social Justice
2003- Theme: Human Rights
2002- Theme: Support the Arts and Education
WHAT IS THE CARTOON CHALLENGE™ ?
Ten teams of animation students from college and art schools across the continent will spend four intense days and nights on the campus of Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Their mission is to create a 30-second animated public service announcement (PSA) for television broadcast on a topic chosen by the event’s sponsor.
To make the playing field even, students will only use the software and hardware installed at the college to create their animation. Films created during the Challenge must be produced in their entirety during the contest period. This means no reuse, access, or downloads of any elements whatsoever from previous productions.
The Cartoon Challenge™ is the lead-up event to the four-day Kalamazoo Animation Festival International™ (KAFI) with its film competitions, screenings, workshops, seminars, portfolio critiques, and social gatherings. Dates for the next Cartoon Challenge™ are May 11-12-13-14, 2009, with the festival running from May 14th to 17th, 2009. The site for the Challenge and the Festival is Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Arcadia Commons Campus, Center for New Media, located in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan.
During the four days and three nights, the competing teams will live together, eat together, brainstorm together, and most importantly, CREATE together. Each team member will benefit not only from working cohesively as a team, but also from learning about each other, working to overcome barriers, and having a true professional artistic experience that prepares them for the working world. Students will be working in an “under-the-gun” atmosphere that previous challengers have said was “an incredible experience. . . the most fun they have ever had.”
Then the Festival begins and students can spend three days networking, learning, and sharing ideas with animators, educators, and students with the same creative drive from schools around the world. While students are enjoying KAFI, a panel of judges made up of leading industry professionals and educators will be viewing the PSAs to determine the 2009 Cartoon Challenge™ winner.
On Saturday evening, May 16, 2009, the Festival audience will gather at the 1500-seat State Theatre to view the work produced by all the teams and vote for the People's Choice Award in a “blind” viewing. At the KAFI Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, May 17, 2009, the winners of both the People's Choice and Judges Award are announced. The winning college from the judged competition will receive an animation student scholarship. How the scholarship is managed and awarded is entirely up to the winning school.
PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES
If your school is interested in becoming one of the ten schools selected, send an email or phone KAFI with the name of your school and a contact name with an address, phone number and email. We will alert you as new information becomes available.
Contact us: kafi@kvcc.edu
PHONE: 269 373-7883
Team Applications accepted: 9/1/2008 through 1/16/2009
