Paddington Named Favourite UK Animation

Paddington Bear has been named as an all time favourite at the ninth British Animation Awards last night.
The awards, held in London, this year took place amidst an out-cry over the lack of tax breaks afforded to the UK animation industry and served as a reminder of the home-grown talent present in the UK.
The cuddly bear from darkest Peru beat a shortlist of other distinguished UK characters including Super Ted, Aleksandr Meerkat and Wallace and Gromit.
Paddington Bear was created by former BBC cameraman Michael Bond, and his first book was published in 1958.
Meanwhile other winners included The Gruffalo, Aardman Animations and Harry Potter.
Recently UK animators have been urging for tax -breaks - as they claim they can no longer compete with tax breaks offered overseas.
Animation UK, which represents producers including Aardman Animations and Astley Baker Davies, have also previously written to George Osborne, Chancellor, warning him that Britain is losing its best animation talent and are urging him to "level the playing field".
The companies behind Wallace and Gromit and Peppa Pig have said that they are not looking for handouts but need to be able to compete. They claim that animators overseas, particularly Ireland and Canada, where tax breaks and funding supply up to 50% of budgets have created "a distorted market place".
UK Animation predict that unless a similar tax break can be offered in the UK that allows them to compete on a level playing field with the rest of the world the UK animation industry will be wiped out altogether.
(LB)