AniExer-size Animation Contest

The AniExer-size Animation Contest was a brickfilm competition created by Dustin Finstrom. Its aim was to be a regularly-occuring themed animation exercise to help people improve, through practice and feedback. The contest's name refers to "Animation Exercise" as well as the small size of the contest, which is reflected in the font size in the logo.

The contest was primarily hosted on Finstrom's YouTube channel but was also run in official association with Bricks in Motion, and Philip Heinrich provided assistance in the running of the contest. Finstrom originally planned to run the contest every 3-4 months, but it ultimately only ran twice, with just over two months between the beginnings of the two installments.

The first AniExer-size Animation Contest
The first AniExer-size Animation Contest was announced by Dustin Finstrom on July 26, 2009, with the theme "Chase Scene". The minimum time limit was 10 seconds with no maximum limit, and the deadline was August 16, 2009. The prizes were provided by the BrickLink store eBricksOnline and were a $100 store coupon for first place and a $50 coupon for second place. The contest received 201 submissions and was judged by Finstrom, Philip Heinrich, Zach Macias and Forrest Whaley. Gareth Pugh was also supposed to judge but was ultimately unable.

Winners

 * 1) The Game by Jordan Johnson and Nathan Johnson
 * 2) Cheese Chase by Jon Rolph

It was also later mentioned that The Chase by Sean Willets placed third in the judging.

The AniExer-size Animation Contest II - Halloween Edition
The second AniExer-size Animation Contest was announced by Finstrom on October 2, 2009 and the theme was "Fright", to tie in with Halloween. The time limit rules were the same and the deadline was October 31, 2009. Prizes were again supplied by eBricksOnline, this time with a $100 coupon for first place, a $75 coupon for second place and a $50 coupon for third place. There were 64 entries submitted and the judges were Finstrom, Philip Heinrich, Zach Macias, Gareth Pugh and Forrest Whaley.

Winners

 * 1) tim & fRED Halloween Special by Sean Willets
 * 2) Swine Flu: The Pandemic by Harry Bossert
 * 3) Ghost Train by David Boddy

It was also later mentioned that The Monkey's Paw by Spencer Olson placed fourth in the judging.