Vimeo unveils nominees for its Best of the Year Award, collating 2020’s finest videos

Vimeo has unveiled the nominees for its Best of the Year Award, the cream of 2020’s online video content. Adding nine categories this year, bringing it up to 14 in total, with five nominees for each, the extensive list spans animation, brand films, advertising, documentary, comedy, drama, live-streamed events, social content, streaming channels and more. There’s a whole category dedicated to quarantine videos, showcasing creative explorations of life under lockdown, and videos for good causes, plus a collection of totally bizarre creations in the Experimental category.

Animation nominees include Sam Gainsborough’s Facing It, a technically incredible film combining claymation and live action, and Rocío Alvarez’ brilliant hand-drawn telling of the history of desire, Simbiosis Carnal.

Among the Brand Vision nominees is Kim Gehrig’s Life Needs Truth for The New York Times (above), a powerful feat of creative collaboration that saw a five-verse poem built from headlines and put to the beat of jazz. Gehrig also pops up in the Product Launch category with her ad for Apple called Snap, an infectiously spirited film choreographed to perfection by Ryan Heffington.

In the top five Branded Content films is Nisha Ganatra’s #WombStories, created with AMV BBDO for Bodyform, which brought together a stellar crew of female animators including Laura Jayne Hodkin, Kate Isobel Scott and Haein Kim.

The best adverts chosen for the Commercial category include Oscar Hudson’s split-screen triumph You Can’t Stop Us for Nike, which perfectly matches old and new footage; and Jim Jenkins’ recreation of Groundhog Day for Jeep, starring Bill Murray.

Meanwhile in the Videos for Good list is Anna Ginsburg’s A Love/Hate Relationship for Breast Cancer Now, a beautifully animated depiction of women’s journeys with their breasts across a lifetime.

There’s tons more to explore that should keep your eyes busy until 2021. Vimeo will reveal the winners on 14 January via a virtual awards show, and is hosting workshops, panel discussions and talks as part of its festival. Register to find out more.