For the very first time professional jury and audience agree on awards at Cinekid and Kinderkast reaches a record in votes

Press release, October 25, Amsterdam

Dutch presenter Lisa Wade presented the ceremony awards on October 25th at the Cinekid festival 2008. Together with ‘skatedancer' Chérif Zaouali, Wade offered a compelling show. Cinekid's ceremony consisted of the Cinekid Lion Award, the Cinekid Kinderkast Television Prizes and the Cinekid New Media Awards. A total of 10 prizes were handed out for the best children's productions which have been completed in the past year.

Film

The Cinekid Lion Awards, each 15.000 Euros sponsored by KPN, are extremely popular. This amount allows filmmakers to produce new inspiring projects and this way Cinekid aims to stimulate high quality films. For the first time both the professional jury members as the audience agreed upon the winner of the Cinekid Lion Award. The lucky directors, Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen were present at the ceremony to receive both prizes for their film Niko - The Way to the Stars (Finland, 2008). This exhilarating animation film tells the story about a reindeer who wants to be able to fly. The Dutch premiere will be on December 17th and the voices of Georgina Verbaan, Cees Geel, Daniel Boissevain and Chris Zegers will be heard in the Dutch version. Children rated the film with a 9.4.

For the first time a professional children's jury was present at Cinekid which was an initiative of Cinekid and NIF (Dutch Institute of Filmeducation). This so-called MovieSquad Junior Award of Cinekid 2008 went to The Ten Lives of Titanic the Cat (Grethe BØe, Norway, 2007).

New Media

The Cinekid New Media Award, Jury Award (7500 Euros) went to Klokhuis Game Studio (IJsfontein Interactive Media, NPS, 2007) in which kids can create their own game, publish it and play it. The Cinekid New Media Award, Audience Award went to Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo, 2008). The latest development in this game is the Wii Wheel in which kids can actually steer.

Television

The Cinekid Kinderkast is the prize of the Dutch kids television: a statue designed by famous writer/artist Jan Wolkers. The Golden Kinderkast and 7500 Euros went to De Daltons, de jongensjaren (Rita Horst, VPRO), an outstanding dramaserie of the VPRO, with which Cinekid opened in 2007.

Cinekid Kinderkast Jury Award fiction: De Daltons, de jongensjaren by Rita Horst (VPRO)

Cinekid Kinderkast Jury Award non-fiction: Overleven in Nederland: RAUW by Anneloek Sollart (VPRO).

Records in votes of Cinekid Kinderkast Audience Award

Cinekid Kinderkast Audience Award received a record in the amount of votes. With 10.344 votes the amount almost doubled.

The Cinekid Kinderkast, Audience Award fiction went to the popular serie Het Huis Anubis by Dennis Bots (Nickelodeon).
The Cinekid Kinderkast Audience Award non fiction went to Taarten van Abel, Zomerspecial by Onno Krijnen (VPRO).