A successful conclusion!
The 23rd Beijing Film Academy Cartoon Festival Awards Ceremony was successfully held.
Inheritance and innovation, diverse coexistence!
The 23rd Beijing Film Academy Cartoon Festival Awards Ceremony was successfully held!
On the afternoon of June 7, 2026, the awards ceremony for the 23rd Beijing Film Academy Cartoon Festival was held at the Huairou Campus of the Beijing Film Academy. The festival, themed “Inheritance, Innovation, and Diversity,” spanned the Longfu Cultural Center in Dongcheng District, Beijing, and the Huairou Campus of the Beijing Film Academy, creating a dual-city linkage between the two districts. Guests and representatives from the domestic and international cartooning, animation, arts education, and cultural industries, along with faculty, students, and award-winning creators from the Beijing Film Academy, gathered to witness the unveiling of the festival’s various honors.
The leaders and guests attending this awards ceremony included: Sun ; Li Wei , Vice President of Beijing Film Academy ; and Sun Lijun , Dean of the China Animation Research Institute of Beijing Film Academy and Honorary Chairman of the Comic Festival .
Industry and academic guests included: Sun Liyan , member of the review committee of the State Film Administration under the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee; Zhang Xun , former general manager of China Film Co-production Corporation and representative of Hua Junwu’s family; Xu Tao , chairman of the committee of the International Cartoonists Congress; Xu Pengfei , honorary director of the Cartoon Art Committee of the China Artists Association; Liu Manhua, director of the Cartoon Art Committee of the China Artists Association; Zhao Kun , associate researcher of the Art Committee of the China Artists Association and member of the China Artists Association; Yan Qingxiong , chief editor of Shenzhen Special Zone Daily of Shenzhen Press Group ; Zheng Huagai , former secretary-general and deputy director of the Cartoon Art Committee of the China Artists Association ; Zhou Chunxia , secretary of the Department of Journalism and Communication of the School of Applied Arts and Sciences of Beijing Union University ; and Shen Yongliang, chief director of the national key animation project “Hua Junwu Animation” .
In addition, international guests including Alexandre Maupault , principal of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et des Beñamina, representative of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et …
Deputy District Head of Huairou District People’s Government Sun Le
At the start of the ceremony, Sun Le, Deputy District Head of Huairou District, extended congratulations to the award-winning creators. She stated that Huairou and the Beijing Film Academy are continuously deepening their cooperation in film and television, cultural tourism, and talent development, and that the district is willing to leverage its well-developed industrial ecosystem and supporting services to help young creators pursue their dreams and produce high-quality works.
Vice President of Beijing Film Academy Li Wei
Li Wei, vice president of Beijing Film Academy, said that under the theme of “Inheritance, Innovation and Diversity”, this year’s comic festival will protect the warmth of hand-drawn art and embrace the new possibilities brought by technology. He hopes that young creators will make good use of AI to give wings to their imagination and tell the stories of the times and themselves with their brushes.
Dean of the China Animation Research Institute of Beijing Film Academy, Honorary Chairman of the Jury of the Comic Festival Sun Lijun
Sun Lijun, honorary chairman of the jury for this year’s comic festival , reviewed the festival’s development since its inception, emphasizing that the festival still calls for originality and the inheritance of Chinese comic aesthetics. He hopes that young creators will understand and learn from the Chinese comic tradition, persist in innovation, uphold their dreams, and move forward in pursuit of their aspirations.
During this year’s comics festival, the Beijing Film Academy and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et des Beaux-Arts in France reached an important consensus on cooperation in areas such as animation education, visual storytelling, basic drawing training, storyboarding, and pre-production animation development. The two parties held a signing ceremony for the cooperation agreement at the awards ceremony, jointly opening a new chapter in Sino-French art education exchange and cooperation.
Alexandre Maupault, Principal of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de France, speaks.
Jointly signed an agreement on international exchange and cooperation between universities
With the successful completion of the cooperation signing ceremony, the ceremony moved into the highly anticipated awards presentation, where awards were announced in the following categories: image-based awards, AI comics awards, scholarship winners, written awards, as well as awards for outstanding works, outstanding instructors, and outstanding organizations. This year, a total of 643 entries were received, covering six image-based tracks: illustration, short story comics, picture books, graphic novels, themed creations, and AI comics, as well as two written tracks: comic scripts and academic papers. Ultimately, 239 works were shortlisted for the final evaluation, and the final winners are as follows:
Image Awards
Illustration Awards
Best Illustration Award:
“A River Once Flowed Through My Eyes” by Niu Zhe
Award for Outstanding Illustration:
“Old Tales of South Beijing” by Sha Yihan (Beijing Film Academy)
“A Shooting Star!” by Xu Yingying (Nanjing University of the Arts)
Illustration Category Jury Special Award:
“The Journey” by Qian Yizhe (China Academy of Art)
“The Dawn of Shared Origins” by Dang Yuxuan (Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts)
“Songs of Galloping Across the Desert” by Tan Peilin (Xinjiang Normal University
Storybook Awards
Best Story Picture Book Award:
“The Bird Concerto” by Li Jiayi (Beijing Film Academy)
Award for Outstanding Story Picture Book:
“Numbers in the Kitchen” by Yue Lisha (Xinyang Normal University)
“Remembering Childhood” by Chen Xi (Guangdong University of Technology and Education)
Special Jury Prize in Storybook Category:
“The Joys of Chang’an: Lychees and Strings” by Zhu Yan (Jilin Animation Institute)
“The Tomb of the Three Kings” by Duan Tianyu (Beijing Film Academy)
“Starfish: Emerging from the Lake of Tears” by Wang Zixuan (Beijing Film Academy)
Short Story Comic Awards
Best Short Story Comic Award:
“National Treasures at Night” by Wang Zixuan (Beijing Film Academy)
Award for Outstanding Short Story Comic:
“No Questions Asked” by Sha Yihan (Beijing Film Academy)
“The Women’s Army” by Zhang Zheng (Beijing Film Academy)
Special Jury Prize in Short Story Comics Category:
“Silence” by Zhu Ruilin (Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts)
Looking Back at the Bright Moon, by Liu Kejing (Beijing Film Academy)
“Dreaming Back to the Ancient Capital: The Boundless Ancient City” by Hu Ruixiang (Beijing Film Academy)
Graphic Novel Awards
Best Graphic Novel Award:
“Little Fairy” by Zhou Jingwenqi (Beijing Film Academy)
Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel:
“Rest” by Shi Shijia (Beijing Film Academy)
“I Can’t See the Mirage in the Sea” by Zhang Hanwen (Beijing Film Academy)
Special Jury Prize in Graphic Fiction:
“The Scale Between Bookshelves” by Lin Yufei (China Academy of Art)
“Bolero” by Dai Ying (Beijing Film Academy)
“Destination” by Zhu Fangyi (Beijing Film Academy)
Theme Awards
Themed Comic Award:
“Grandma’s Suona Song” by Xu Yingying (Nanjing University of the Arts)
“Chrysanthemum Fairy Huang Ying” by Yao Zhaoxuan (Beijing Film Academy)
Special Jury Prize in Thematic Category:
“A One-Sentence Handbook” by Qi Jiayue (Beijing Film Academy)
“The Dream Clockman” by Yuan Xucheng (Beijing Film Academy)
AI Comics Category Awards
AI Comics Awards:
“Civilization I: The Bacterial Plague” by Sun Anran (Jilin Animation Institute)
“December” by Cheng Zimu (Beijing Film Academy)
AI Comics Category Jury Special Award:
“Majiayao Painted Pottery: The Clay Magic of Ancient Children” by Zhang Chunli (Huanggang Normal University)
Memories of the City, by Sun Mingchen (Beijing University of Technology)
Shining Star Film Scholarship
Shining Star Film Scholarship:
“Old Tales of South Beijing” by Sha Yihan (Beijing Film Academy)
“The Bird Concerto” by Li Jiayi (Beijing Film Academy)
“National Treasures at Night” by Wang Zixuan (Beijing Film Academy)
Text-related awards
Comic Script Award
Best Comic Book Script Award:
“As Long As I Grow Up” by Zhang Ruxue (Beijing Film Academy)
Award for Outstanding Comic Script:
“You’ll Turn into a Parrot When You Fall Asleep” by Chen Xiayang (Beijing Film Academy)
“Goodnight, Shooting Star!” by Xu Yingying (Nanjing University of the Arts)
Special Jury Prize in Comic Book Script Category:
“When We Have Insomnia, the Little Lamb Is There” by Ye Shiying (Beijing Film Academy)
“The Chimney Sweeper” by Qiao Jingyu (Beijing Film Academy)
“Winter of Winter” by Liu Fanyi (Beijing Film Academy)
Paper Awards
First Prize for Paper:
Visual Mobilization of the Times: A Study of Li Binghong’s Political Cartoons in the 1950s
Author: Yan Qingxiong (Shenzhen Press Group)
Second Prize for Paper:
The Art of “White Space” in Manga Panel Design: A Case Study of “Hikaru no Go”
Author: Liu Chang (Huanggang Normal University)
The Visibility of the Inner World: How Inside Out 2 Transforms Self-Identity into the Structure of Animated Media
Author: Pei Tianzi (Jimei University)
Third Prize for Paper:
“Upholding Tradition and Innovation in the New Era of the ‘Chinese Animation School’: A Case Study of ‘The Little Monster of Langlang Mountain’”
Author: Wei Junde (Beijing Film Academy)
Research on the Transformation of Film and Television Art Design Based on Artificial Intelligence Technology
Authors: Li Yusu and Zhao Shuang (Jilin Animation Institute and Jilin Academy of Arts)
From Text to Image: A Study on the Symbolic Translation of Animation Driven by Generative AI—Taking a Clip from “Night of the Glamour” as an Example
Author: Liu Xingchi (National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts)
Award for Outstanding Works
Outstanding Instructor Award
List of Outstanding Organization Awards
The 23rd Beijing Film Academy Cartoon Festival Awards Ceremony concluded successfully in a warm atmosphere! From image creation to textual research, from traditional expression to AI exploration, from showcasing young works to signing international cooperation agreements, this year’s festival, under the banner of “Inheritance, Innovation, and Diversity,” presented the vitality and breadth of cartoon art in the contemporary context. The exploration of cartoon art is endless, and we look forward to more creators continuing to use cartoons as a language to write freer, more sincere, and more powerful works!
Li Liang, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Logistics and Security Department of Beijing Film Academy; Chen Zhongguo, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Animation School of Beijing Film Academy; Ma Hua, Dean of the School; Wang Hao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch and Vice Dean; Huang Yong, Vice Dean; Huang Ying, Director of the Comics Department; and Zu Ruoxi, Chairman of the Jury, participated in this event.
Written by: Wang Jiayi and Liu Lingyi
Layout: Tan Xinyi
Editor: Hao Tianyue
Editors: Zu Ruoxi, Yang Liang, Gu Qijun
Reviewed by: Chen Zhongguo, Ma Hua, Wang Hao, Huang Yong
