#YoungGuns17: Two winners receive special recognition
Kenta Shinohara, stop motion animator at dwarf studio TYO Inc. in Tokyo, was presented with the Young Guns 17 Creative Choice Award. The accolade is the result of a public vote by the global creative community at large who reviewed work of all YG17 winners and picked the one they believe stands above all others.
Shinohara says his stop motion philosophy is based on bringing emotion to every scene, which allows the audience to easily connect with the work. With a style that involves making puppets look alive with minimal animation, he enjoys projects where he can direct and animate at the same time.
Levine/Leavitt Artist In Residence Award
YG17 winner Joyce N. Ho, an independent art director and motion designer based in Brooklyn, was selected to receive the sixth-annual Artist In Residence Award from international artists management agency and Young Guns sponsor Levine/Leavitt.
The honour is bestowed annually to a newly crowned Young Gun whose body of work truly stands out, as judged by an advisory board of industry professionals across a range of disciplines. As this year’s winner, Ho receives a full year of professional development, guidance and mentorship from Levine/Leavitt to help advance her career.
Born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia and now living in New York, Ho specializes in storytelling through motion and bringing ideas to life through design work that is textural and expressive. Her work includes directing the titles for "Semi Permanent", opening titles for Syfy’s "The Expanse”, and serving as design director for "Volume 3" of Netflix's "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj”. She is also a three-time SXSW Film Awards finalists.
Young Guns is the industry’s only international, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies today’s vanguard of young creatives. Submissions were received from more than 45 countries and judged by 61 top creatives from around the world, about half of whom are past Young Guns winners.
Change is good
This year’s winners were celebrated at the Young Guns 17 Awards party at Sony Hall in New York. The evening was hosted by Rich Tu, VP of Digital Design at MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo, host of the "First Generation Burden" podcast, and himself a Young Guns 8 winner from 2010.
"It's an honour and a pleasure to be welcomed back as the host of Young Guns 17,” said Tu. “This year’s class is an amazing group of international creatives who I hope will shake up the industry at a time when multiculturalism, representation and identity are more important than ever to our industry’s creative output. Change is good, and these folks are great!”
All Young Guns 17 winners receive a unique version of the iconic Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the Young Guns website. Winners also receive a complimentary one-year membership to The One Club for Creativity, permanent membership in Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in Young Guns events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from Young Guns sponsors.
Program branding and design of the Cube award is recreated each year by a past Young Gun winner. This year’s YG17 branding and Cube award are designed by Hey, Barcelona, founded by Verònica Fuerte (YG7).
