A competition for "Prix Pixel" awards in various animation and special effects categories has been part of this conference for the past 15 years. To choose the winners, an international jury first winnowed 500 entries from 28 countries. Those entries were screened in front of the nearly 1800 attendees from 20 countries who voted for the first-, second-, and third-place awards in seven categories. Some of the Prix Pixel-INA (first place) winners are presented here. Others, which can be seen at www.imagina.fr, include: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Duran (France) for the Alex Gopher music video, The Child; Martina Liebnitz of Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (Germany) for the short film Bsss in the student category; Daiquiri Digital Pictures for Alaris "Martiens" in advertising; and John Gaeta of Manex (USA) for special effects in The Matrix.
This year, the top prize, the Grand Prix Imagina 2000, was given by the jury to Toy Story 2, from John Lasseter at Pixar (USA). -Barbara Robertson
Pierre Oscar Levy, Jean-Michel Sanchez and Gabriel Turkieh, Alto Media (France). First Place, Science
Jean-François Bourrel and Jérôme Calvet (France). First Place, Fiction
Steve Katz, Pitch, Inc. (USA). First Place, Art; Special Jury Mention
Mike Milne, Framestore (UK). Second Place, Special Effects
François Vogel, Anna Paula, Pizzocaro, Mikros Image (France). Second Place, Art
Takehiko Nagakura, Shinsuke Baba, MIT (USA). Third Place, Science
Wojtek Wawszczyk, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Third Place, Student