Texas Techies Organization is pleased to announce the finalists of this year’s Animator 2010 competition. The finalists will compete in the Animator’s Showcase to be held on Thursday, November 18, 2010. The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges and will win a brand new Apple iTouch, courtesy of Grande Communications.

Over 100 Corpus Christi area school children registered for the competition and spent the past two months creating their own animations, games, stories, art and music for submission to the Texas Techies Animator 2010 competition. 43 projects were successfully submitted and qualified in the semi-finals. 10 students made the final cut and were selected as the finalists.

The Finalists are:

First Name	Last Name	Grade	Animation Title
Kyle	Bagwell	11th	O.B.B. Adventures
Adam	Benning	9th	Library of Alexandria
Cayce	Berryman	12th	Sally's Time Travel Adventure
Alex	Brown	11th	Shablaam
Paulina	Flores	12th	Graveyard Picnic
Brittany	Garza	11th	Time to Pong
Joshua	Holzworth	12th	Time Attack - Survival
Peyton	Page	11th	Stick Guy
Robert	West	10th	Brother Misfortune
Nicholas	Young	11th	Time Traveling Wizard

We also want to congratulate all of the students who entered; we received many great projects. Our only regret is that there can only be 10 finalists.

Animator 2010 Schedule
Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Location: Oso Recreation Center, 1111 Bernice Drive, 78412
Event Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
        - Animator Showcase Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
        - Judging Time: 7:00pm - 7:10pm
        - Awards Ceremony: 7:20pm 

Free Entry to Everyone

• The first 100 guests will get a Free Trump Network Goody Bag from The Trump Network
• Free Livescribe 'dumb' pens

Amazing Door Prizes for Everyone!

• Trump Network Snazzle Snaxxs Starter Kit ($351 Value)
• Trump Network BioCe Kit ($381 Value) http://bioceyourlife.com/BioCeInOurOwnWords.aspx
• iPod Shuffle from 4B Productions
• 5 lifetime accounts of Click-N-Read from Click-N-Kids
• .....and lots more, drawings, and door prizes throughout the entire event.

The goal is to have as much community support in engaging Corpus Christi students in math, science, and technology, as these are the most important factors in creating tomorrow's workforce.

The Animation Theme
This year the challenge will be centered around a single theme, "Time Travel", and will allow the animators a great amount of creativity in their interpretation and execution of that theme.
What is time travel and how can it relate to an animation? Wikipedia explains time travel as "the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space." For your animation, however, you can use any creative idea you can come up with to implement this theme. You could employ programming that allows the user to go back and forward through time, like Braid or Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. You could create a game where the player can explore two (or more) versions of a world existing in different times, like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You could simply make an animation based in ancient history, where the main character arrive via a time machine....Or you can do whatever else you can think of, as long as it fits the theme somehow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SafwXdP7ylc

Animator 2010 Rules

• The competition is open only to students enrolled at schools in Texas.
• Finalists will showcase their animations in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• Your animation must be created using Scratch. We cannot accept entries created using any other authoring system.
• Entries can only be accepted if submitted on-line using the official competition registration webpage.
• All entries must be centered around the single theme of the competition.  We allow the animators a great amount of creativity in their interpretation and execution of that theme.
  
• Entries must be original works created by one individual student. However we do realize that it is entirely appropriate that children entering may receive professional support from teachers/classroom assistants, as part of the usual teaching and learning process. Finalists will not be able to receive assistance during the "Animator Showcase."
• The duration of an entry must be no more than 2 minutes. There is no minimum length.
• There is no restriction on the number of separate entries an individual may submit. However, if an individual submits multiple entries, the content of each entry must be substantially different.
• If your entry incorporates music, sound samples, text, or images, you must own the rights to use that material. For a great sources of freely-usable music, please visit: www.freeplaymusic.com
• Texas Techies Organization reserves the right to reject any entry which, in its view, contains inappropriate material.
• When you submit an entry you grant Texas Techies Organization permission to make unrestricted use of the entry in future, for publicity or educational purposes. In such use, the Organization will ensure that the author/school is clearly acknowledged.
• Submitted entries may be exhibited at the awards ceremony and displayed on the competition webpages, which will also contain entrants' and schools' names (but no further contact details).
• Texas Techies Organization will keep your contact information confidential and will not release it to any other parties.

Animator Showcase Rules

• All projects must be using the Scratch software.
• Entries must be original works created by one individual student.
• The finalists will be provided with a laptop computer with the Scratch program loaded, a microphone, podium, speakers, projector and projection screen.
• Finalists are encouraged to prepare and get ready for the showcase ahead of time.
• Finalists will not be able to receive assistance during the "Animator Showcase."
• Finalists should submit their animations by November 16, 2010 at midnight.  If finalists would like to make changes to their submission on November 18, 2010, they should bring their animation on a USB Flash Drive by 5:00pm on November 18, 2010. No entries will be accepted after 5:00pm, Nov. 18, 2010. 
• The student will have 5-6 minutes to showcase their entry. Here is a suggested breakdown for the showcase:
• 2 minutes: Introduce your Animation & Describe how you created the Animation using Scratch software
• 2 minutes: Showcase your Animation
• 1 minute: Answer questions / comments

Judging Criteria

Each finalist will be reviewed by a panel of judges. The judges will award points for each of the following:

• Originality and Creativity
• Technical quality: use of animation software features
• Relevance to theme
• Overall presentation quality

The decisions of the judging panel are final. The competition organizers shall not be liable for any decision that they make related to unforeseen issues and for granting special derogation for requests sent in writing. Participating at the contest implies full agreement with the contest rules, without exception.

Animator 2010 Prizes
There will be one First Place Winner and Four (4) Runner-Up Winners. There will also be prizes awarded for honorable mention as determined by the judges. Entries may also be identify as "commended" for their quality. All prize-winning and commended entries will be exhibited at the Animator 2010 Award Ceremony and displayed on the internet.

• First Place Winner: Apple iPod Touch
• Four (4) Runner-Up Winners: Best Buy Gift Cards

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Texas Techies Organization
Phone: 361-774-7454
E-mail: info@texastechies.org
Website: http://www.texastechies.org