THE
UK COMPETITION
Welcome to Young Animator of the Year UK, the biggest animation competition for young creatives in the UK!
If you’re aged 11 to 22 and living in the UK, this is your chance to share your work, get noticed by industry pros, and have your film screened at the Manchester Animation Festival.
Whether you’re into 2D, 3D, or stop-motion, we want to see what you can do.
YAY UK is an ACCESS:VFX initiative in partnership with Manchester Animation Festival, the UK's biggest animation event, and HUE, the innovative supplier of animation products and creative, educational resources, as sponsors and supporters.
YAY! IT'S BACK!
We’re excited to share that submissions for this year’s Young Animator of the Year UK competition open on May 12th! We’re on the lookout for the most creative, passionate young animators from across the UK.
By popular demand, we’ve expanded the competition to include a brand new 19–22 age category, giving even more emerging talent the chance to shine.
We’re also thrilled to welcome HUE as the sponsor of our Best Stop Motion Animation categories, supporting the next generation of hands-on storytellers.
COMPETITION CATEGORIES
Best Stop-motion Animator
Think you could be the next Nick Park? Move real objects frame by frame to bring them to life on screen!
Best
2D
Animator
Love drawing? Using traditional hand-drawn techniques, either on paper or using digital software like Flip-a-clip or Krita.
Best
3D
Animator
Have a passion for building virtual worlds? Use 3D computer software such as Blender or Maya, to model, animate and render your characters and objects.
WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?
1. Create your film
Animate your film using stop-motion, hand-drawn or computer animation. You must use non-copyrighted music, such as royalty-free library music. Films must be made after 15th September 2024. You must have created the majority of the work yourself, not part of an animation team.
2. Submit your film
Create an account on this website and then upload your film as an MP4 file, you may re-upload your film multiple times if you want to make changes to it. Uploading will close at midnight on 1st September 2025.
3. Wait for the nominations
Your film will be judged by the most experienced animators from the UK's top animation studios. The best films will be nominated for the awards. Nominations are announced on 1st October 2025.
4. Winners announced!
The winners will be announced at the Manchester Animation Festival on 9th November 2025, where all nominated animators will get the chance to meet some of the judges.
5. Studio tour prizes
The winners will be invited to attend private studio tours of Aardman Animations, Blue Zoo and Wildchild Animation.