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The main news of the day is about a lost hen newly bought for a girl. The reporter of the animated character immediately asks other children about the hen. The news progresses by delivering a live report from the scene by a helicopter. Then the following news jumps in. This time it’s about a boy who just bought new boots. The reporter disseminates information of the hen search to him. While everyone is worrying, big news fl ashes in. The hen is found safely from the cooperation of the girl’s father.
The program successfully draws the attention of the children by focusing on news subjects from the children gathered via the Internet and by skillfully combining designed animation and live-action to deliver a familiar news show.
Media are a window on our world, though sometimes there are flaws in that glass. Those who don’t see their lives and concerns reflected may question their importance and place in the world. Because one important task during preschool is to recognize oneself as an individual in a community, media that make children visible support that learning. The 2009 Grand Prix winner addresses this issue by elevating very real events in pre-schoolers’ lives to the status of “news.” A new pair of shoes, a trip to grandmother’s house, a lost pet – such familiar and concrete events replace the complex global issues that characterize this genre for adults.
What’s Your News? honors the essence of childhood with a fine technical understanding of how young children learn. “Reporters” and “anchors” model effective ways of asking questions and gathering information that children can use as they discover and explore for themselves. What’s Your News? represents technological innovation, as well. Its pioneering method for mixing animation and live action is cost-effective, time-efficient, and yields a visually-rich environment that is detailed, fun, and enhances the story.
From five outstanding category winners, the jury chose What’s Your News? as the 2009 pinnacle of the JAPAN PRIZE “triangle”: it serves real needs for a specific audience, with deep understanding of how people learn, and does so using media to its highest potential.
Jon Burton, Jocelyn Stevenson and I - the creators of What's Your News? - are extremely honoured and proud to win the Preschool and Grand Prix award at the JAPAN PRIZE. We would like to thank the children in our show for sharing their NEWS, and our amazing production team. At TT Animation we are committed to creating high quality content and pushing the boundaries of technology for an audience that we believe deserves it.
Our goal was to give children a voice and to help their transition from their home and family environment into the wider world. Losing a tooth, getting your haircut or kicking a ball is important news to our audience. This is news children can relate to - because it's about the kinds of things that happen to them. Every 22 minute episode follows a major breaking news story and presents one other feature. There are interviews with child experts, special reports, traffic updates and the weather. What's Your News? focuses on children's experiences and interests, showing them a world filled with people whose news is their news. It celebrates and honours a child's experience of just being a child.
Our job was to listen.