Emmy hopes for Irish cartoons

The makers of two Irish-made children’s cartoon shows were biting their nails and dreaming of Emmy award success last night as the coveted prizes were handed out in New York.

Brown Bag Films and Boulder Media were in contention for the major awards due to their popular programmes The Octonauts and The Amazing World of Gumball.

Emmy award organisers stayed tight-lipped as to whether the Dublin-based firms had taken home the major accolade, insisting the winners would not be revealed until 10pm New York time — roughly 3am Irish time this morning.

However, given the quality of the Irish shows, there were high hopes the nation would be celebrating a double International Emmy Kids Awards achievement this weekend.

The Octonauts programme, made in Dublin’s Smithfield area, was competing with shows from Argentina, South Korea and Norway in the Kids: Preschool category.

Made by the same people behind the 2002 Oscar-nominated Give Up Yer Aul’ Sins and the 2010 Oscar-shortlisted Granny O Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, the underwater-based show has proved hugely popular on the BBC.

Similarly, the Boulder Media-made The Amazing World of Gumball — which follows the adventures of a 12-year-old cat and his family — has attracted a strong following among school children. It was last night competing against shows from France, Spain and Japan.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner in October, when the nominations were made, Brown Bag Films’ founders Cathal Gaffney and Darragh ‘Doc’ O Connell said they were delighted with the worldwide recognition.

“It’s great for Brown Bag Films and a real thumbs-up for the Irish animation industry in general,” said Mr O Connell.

Brown Bag Films also developed and produced Henry Hugglemonster, the new preschool animated series.

The series was developed from Irish author Niamh Sharkey’s series of books I’m a Happy Hugglewug, which follow the adventures of Henry, “the middle child in a happy, madcap close-knit monster family”.

Former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell, is among the people voicing Hugglewug characters.

- See irishexaminer.com and breakingnews.ie for updates on the Emmy winners.

Picture: ‘Happy Hugglemonsters’, which Brown Bag Films were commissioned to produce for Disney