The 9th Quirino Awards establish themselves as a driving force for Ibero-American animation
Skwigly
The Quirino Awards took stock of the industry activities during this year’s event, held from April 15 to 17 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, bringing together creators, professionals, and key players in the Ibero-American animation industry for a packed schedule of gatherings and business meetings.
As a prelude to the awards ceremony, industry activities included the Co-Production and Business Forum, new sessions of the Futures Lab, the International Conference on TV Channels and Platforms, and the roundtable discussion “Women in Ibero-American Animation,” in addition to various presentations and networking opportunities. The Quirino Awards have the main sponsorship of the Tenerife Council through Tenerife Tourism and the Tenerife Film Commission.
Once again, the Co-Production and Business Forum was the focal point of the Quirino Awards’ professional program, bringing together 166 companies from 24 countries—including production companies, distributors, sales agents, television networks, and investors—and facilitating nearly 1,400 one-on-one meetings.
IBERMEDIA Next, Brazilian Content-BRAVI and Spcine (Brazil), DGCINE (Dominican Republic), ProChile, and Chile’s Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage were among the institutions that supported the participation of professionals in this Forum, which also highlighted Tenerife’s growth as a strategic hub for Ibero-American animation.
Designed as a collective intelligence hub for the industry, the Futures Lab—an initiative launched in partnership with the Ortega-Marañón Foundation—held a new meeting focused on the current challenges faced by Ibero-American animation. During this session, the discussion kicked off with a key question about the industry’s future: Who will consume, finance, and distribute this content over the next ten years? Building on this central theme, challenges were identified, such as lack of funding, audience fragmentation, dependence on external platforms, and rigid production models. Among the key conclusions reached by the working groups, participants highlighted the need to move toward more flexible financing and production models, strengthen ties with communities, regain control over content distribution and monetization, and embrace collaboration in the face of a declining traditional model based on public funding and pre-sales to broadcasters.
Meanwhile, the International Conference on TV Channels and Platforms brought together representatives from leading companies in Latin America and Europe to share experiences and identify opportunities for collaboration in the fields of production and distribution. Organized in collaboration with Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the event featured the participation of the BBC (United Kingdom), Canal Capital (Colombia), Česká televize (Czech Republic), HRT – Croatian Radiotelevision (Croatia), KiKA (Germany), NTV (Chile), RTP (Portugal), and Warner Bros. Discovery (Argentina), as well as Globo and TV Cultura (Brazil) and 3Cat and RTVE (Spain).
Alongside these activities, the capital of Tenerife hosted another session of the roundtable discussion “Women in Ibero-American Animation,” which has established itself as a leading platform for strengthening professional networks and promoting equity and diversity in the sector.
New Tools Are Enhancing the Industry
The Quirino Awards also served as a platform for announcing new initiatives and calls for proposals aimed at advancing the industry. Among these, the dates and new venue for the second year of Quirino Lab—a training program—were revealed: October 7–10, 2026, in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. Aimed at professionals in animation executive production, this advanced seminar will be open for applications from May 18 to July 29 of this year. It will bring together a select group of participants in an exclusive space for training and exchange, with the goal of advancing their professional careers and contributing to the development of the Ibero-American animation industry.
Another announcement came from Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), which presented the RTVE-Quirino Talent Award for Best Animation Short Film Project, an initiative aimed at promoting the production of short films and revitalizing the Ibero-American audiovisual industry. The award will be given to the best project with the potential to serve as the starting point for a series or feature film and will include the acquisition of broadcasting rights by RTVE for 25,000 euros. Full details and the submission dates will be announced shortly.
Furthermore, La Liga de la Animación Iberoamericana—an alliance of events comprising the Quirino Awards, the Pixelatl Festival, and Ventana Sur Animation!—announced a new chapter in its collaboration with the Annecy Festival and its Mifa market, which includes the creation of the La Liga Award at Mifa, designed to recognize a project from the region selected from among the Mifa Pitches. The winning proposal will receive support to participate in future editions of Pixelatl, the Quirino Awards, and Ventana Sur Animation!. In addition, the Mifa Partner Pitches at the Annecy Festival will host the “La Liga in Focus” presentation, as part of La Liga’s partnership with the festival.