I was on the Academy Awards site and saw the list of festivals you have to win at before you can be considered a legitimate submission for a short film in the feature animation category (there is one other method but this is the most universal). Anyhow, the list is a great one with links to find out about each of the festivals, and a few of them are strictly animation-related so I thought you guys might enjoy browsing them.
http://www.oscars.org/78academyawards/rules/rules_shortfest.html
Does it help you in the eyes of the academy, I wonder, to get in through festival winning vs. screening? Because you've shown yourself to be at a certain caliber when judged in a similar manner?
I would think most people would be submitting to festivals anyway, so I wonder why they go the screening route.
Either or, when the day comes that I've got the film to compete with, I'm hitting the festival circuit outside of any desire for that kind of credit already... It's exciting just to see the submissions area of that site -- makes it feel more real, more palpable and able to happen.
That is a great resource, Scattered.
Winning one of the festivals listed guarantees you consideration for best animated short. Any short film can be submitted, provided it has a public screening for paying audiences for one week in L.A. county before Dec 31 prior to the next Oscars. Lots of films go this route, as it only requires paying a fee to a theater owner and providing a 35mm print.
Last year there were upwards of 60 animated shorts submitted for consideration for best animated short. Without the screening option, there'd be a lot less in the running.