Kenta Shinohara (member of dwarf studios), an animator with TYO Inc. (Head Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuyoshi Hayakawa; hereafter, “TYO”), has won the international "NY ADC Young Guns" Award as well as the Creative Choice Award. He was the first Japanese winner to do so.

The NY ADC Young Guns is given out to professionals around the globe who are under 30 years of age and under, and have a minimum of two years of professional experience. Founded in 1996 by the advertising and fine arts organization, the Art Directors Club (ADC)—organizer of the ADC Awards, the world’s oldest advertising awards—the awards are now hosted by The One Club for Creativity, a New York-based nonprofit organization that was established by a merger between The One Club and ADC.
This year, the 17th time that the award was held, over 500 young creators from 45 countries submitted portfolios in a wide range of fields, such as advertising, animation, movies, graphic design, illustration, and photography. 81 finalists were selected, and 28 winners were announced from that group. Kenta Shinohara was the only Japanese winner, and won his award as a stop motion animator.

The award ceremony was held at Sony Hall in New York on November 20th at which time the winner of the Creative Choice Award, which was decided through popular vote, was also announced. Kenata Shinohara was the first Japanese to have won the Creative Choice Award.

[Award Winner]  Kenta Shinohara

Born in Ehime Prefecture in Japan in 1989. Mr. Shinohara dreamed of being an animator, and began drawing flip books in elementary school. His work "Family's story,” which he created while enrolled in the Animation Course of the Character Creative Arts Department at the Osaka College of Art in Association with Osaka University of Arts , won first prize for children’s fables at the 9th Hida International Animation Festival of Folktales and Fables. Afterward, he began creating stop motion animation projects. He then joined dwarf studios, TYO’s animation studio, as a part-time animator assistant in 2014, then officially joined dwarf studios in 2016 as an animator. His skills as a stop motion animator, 2D animator, and character designer are blooming.
He has been responsible for numerous stop motion animation projects, including the Netflix original series “Rilakkuma and Kaoru,” as well as “Mogu and Perol,” the Grand Prix winner at the 26th KINEKO International Children's Film Festival in the Japanese short film category.

●NY ADC Young Guns Official Website

https://www.oneclub.org/awards/youngguns/17/-bio/yg17-kenta-shinohara

●Words From the Jury

“Kenta Shinohara's skill and attention to detail in his art show true mastery and understanding of his field. It is a pleasure to get lost in stories that are so beautifully animated, lit and composed. With his work, he enables this genre to excel and makes one wonder how it was even possible. He is a true Young Gun!”

●About dwarf studios

A business unit of the creative agency TYO, dwarf studios has created numerous characters and a variety of content, including the world-famous NHK character “Domo” and the “Komaneko” program, which has continued to have a long run in France. dwarf studios is a stop motion animation production studio that has earned praise in Japan and around the world for its video work, which is primarily focused on stop motion produced through outstanding technical ability. Not limited to original work, dwarf studios also works proactively on collaborations with various popular characters and famous content.
http://www.dw-f.jp/english/

●About TYO

TYO is a Tokyo-based creative agency that combines every kind of advertising production function. TYO develops content with a primary focus on TV commercials, online videos, and digital media, and can boast over 3,000 advertisements produced each year. Since being founded in 1982, as the times have changed, and advertising methods and the ways that people should communicate have continued to change and evolve, TYO has developed diverse advertising ventures with a focus on producing videos.
The company name came from the city code of Tokyo, TYO, which the airline industry uses for Tokyo. The name conveys our hope that talented creators will work their way to this creative business city, TYO, and our determination to become a creative agency in Tokyo representing Japan and sending out messages to the world.
Overseas, TYO leads a group of creative agencies based in China, India, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as a Thai-based digital agency, and is expanding its network in each Asian region with regard to its advertising communication operations. In 2017, together with AOI Pro. Inc., TYO established the joint holding company AOI TYO Holdings Inc., and became a wholly owned subsidiary of that company.
http://group.tyo.jp/en/

■The One Club for Creativity Official Website 

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