The Bricks In Motion Awards (commonly abbreviated to BiMA or BiMAs) is an annual event held on Bricks In Motion to recognize notable brickfilms that excelled in animation, storytelling, visual design, entertainment and artistic quality.
The BiMAs are similar in style to film industry award shows such as the BAFTAs or Oscars with films being nominated for a category in advance and then the winner being announced to a live audience. The 'live' winner's announcement of the BiMAs was previously done via IRC chat and in more recent years has been held on a YouTube livestream.
The Bricks in Motion Awards replaced the Brick Award for Film Arts (BAFAs) which ran for one year in 2008 starting on Brickfilms.com before moving to Bricks in Motion (then known as ILoveBrickfilming.com), which in turn was a replacement for the Brickfilming Achievement in Motion Picture Arts awards (BAMPAs) which ran in 2006 and 2007 among Brickfilms.com community members, but not in official association with the site.
2005 Brickfilming Achievement in Motion Picture Arts[]

The BAMPA logo used for both years it ran
The 2005 BAMPAs were created by Brickfilms.com member Scott Dombert.[1] The winners were announced on March 19, 2006.[2] The last reported judging panel was David West, Scott Dombert, Logan Wright, Toph Beach, J. Watson, Loïc Desjardins, Saul Goode, Jay Silver, Rachel Dew, Nick Maniatis and Matthew Gray.[3]
Best Overall Film | Best Animation |
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Best Cinematography | Best Screenplay |
Best Sound Design | Best Visual Elements |
Best Voice Acting Performance | Best Debut Film |
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2006 Brickfilming Achievement in Motion Picture Arts[]
The 2006 BAMPAs were once again hosted by Scott Dombert. Nominees were announced on April 9, 2007[5] and winners were announced June 9[6], 2007. Changes from 2005 include: Best Overall Film was renamed to Best Film and Best Debut was replaced by Best Score. The last reported judging panel consisted of Michael J. Green, David West, Rachel Dew, Scott Dombert, Jay Silver, James Morr, Lewis Chen, Robert Graff, "Pip the Mighty", Stefan van Zwam and J. Watson.[7]
Best Film | Best Animation |
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Best Cinematography | Best Screenplay |
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Best Sound Design | Best Visual Elements |
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Best Score | Best Voice Acting Performance |
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2007 Brick Award for Film Arts[]
The BAFA Awards, officially called the Brick Award for Film Arts 2008 but covering films released in 2007,[8] the only one of its kind, was created by Mathew Buck to be a successor to the BAMPAs.[9] Changes from the 2006 BAMPAs include: adding Best Director, splitting Best Visual Elements into Best Set Design and Best Visual Effects, renaming Best Score to Best Music, renaming Best Voice Acting Performance to Best Vocal Performance, and adding Best Ensemble Cast. Winners were announced March 22nd, 2008.[10]
Best Film | Best Director |
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Best Animation | Best Screenplay |
Best Cinematography | Best Sound Design |
Best Set Design | Best Visual Effects |
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Best Music | Best Vocal Performance |
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Best Ensemble Cast | |
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2008 Bricks in Motion Awards[]
The BAFA Awards were originally intended to return in 2009. Mathew Buck announced his intention in January 2009 to hand control of the awards over to a new host.[11] Nathan Wells was selected as the new host soon afterwards. A thread was soon posted for forum users to suggest potential nominees for the forthcoming BAFAs.[12] In February, Wells said the BAFAs were progressing slowly and could be months late, but would still happen.[13] This was the last official word heard about the 2008 BAFAs. A successor to them, the Bricks in Motion Awards, was run in their place.

The Bricks in Motion Awards were created by Dylan Woodley as a successor to the BAFAs.[14] They were announced on August 2, 2009, later in the year compared to preceding ceremonies owing to the aborted BAFAs earlier in the year. The members of the judging panel were Philip Heinrich, Jonathan Vaughan, "Night Owl", Evan Linsey, Jordan Harris, Dustin Finstrom, Zach Macias, Anthony D'Angelo, David Pagano and Dylan Woodley. The results were posted August 9, 2009.[15]
Best Film | Best Animation |
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Best Screenplay | Best Cinematography |
Best Sound Design | Best Set Design |
Best Visual Effects | Best Original Score |
Best Vocal Performance | Best Ensemble Cast |
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2009 Bricks in Motion Awards[]

Dylan Woodley continued to host the 2009 Bricks in Motion Awards.[16][17] Two new categories, Best Series and Viewers' Choice, were added. There was no specific judging panel. Instead, all members of the Bricks in Motion staff were allowed to submit a ballot for the awards. The nominations were announced on February 23, 2010 and the final results were announced on April 18, 2010.
Best Film | Best Animation |
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Best Screenplay | Best Cinematography |
Best Sound Design | Best Set Design |
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Best Visual Effects | Best Original Score |
Best Vocal Performance | Best Ensemble Cast |
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Best Series | Viewer's Choice |
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The cancelled 2010 Bricks in Motion Awards[]
The 2010 Bricks in Motion Awards did not take place because its organizer Dylan Woodley only received 5 nomination ballots from the staff members of the site[19], and because of the lack of eligible voters.[20] The lack of a 2010 awards came as a surprise to many users because Woodley had already announced the 2010 awards as happening and produced a short list of films for the Viewers Choice Award.[21] It took 5 months after the closing of Viewer's Choice voting for official confirmation that the event was not happening.
The Viewers' Choice shortlist was:
2011 Bricks in Motion Awards[]
The Bricks in Motion Awards were momentarily revived for 2011 by Aaron Bulger. The nominees were announced on June 4, 2012[22] and the winners announced on June 23, 2012.[23]
Best Film | Best Animation |
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Best Screenplay | Best Cinematography |
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Best Sound Design | Best Set Design |
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Best Visual Effects | Best Original Score |
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Best Vocal Performance | Best Ensemble Cast |
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Viewer's Choice | |
First hiatus[]
There were no Bricks in Motion Awards for 2012 and 2013.
2014 Bricks in Motion Awards[]

The 2014 Bricks in Motion Awards were run by Nathan Wells and Zach Macias. They were judged by Zach Macias, Nathan Wells, Seán Willis, Rachel Dew, Joseph Hayden and Graeme Allen, with additional help from Christian Colglazier and Philip Heinrich. The nominees were announced on March 23, 2015 and the winners were announced on June 13, 2015.[24] Changes include the addition of the Best Editing category and removing the requirement that nominees must have been posted in the Bricks in Motion Releases forum.[25] Viewer's Choice was not held due to time constraints.
2015 Bricks in Motion Awards[]

The 2015 Bricks in Motion Awards were again run by Nathan Wells and Zach Macias and were judged by Zach Macias, Nathan Wells, Seán Willis, Rachel Dew, Joseph Hayden and Jorden Davis, with additional help from Philip Heinrich. The nominees were announced on Februrary 29, 2016[26] and the winners were announced on April 30, 2016.[27] The Viewers' Choice category returned in this year.
Best Film | Best Animation |
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Best Screenplay | Best Cinematography |
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Best Editing | Best Set Design |
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Best Sound Design | Best Visual Effects |
Best Original Score | Best Vocal Performance |
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Best Ensemble Performance | Viewers' Choice |
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Second hiatus[]
The Bricks in Motion Awards became effectively cancelled following the 2015 awards. Nathan Wells cited the "quiet response [...] from the community" relative to the large amount of work required of a panel of judges as one of the major reasons for not continuing the awards,[28] with another being the growing difficulty in keeping track of the many brickfilm releases in each year.
2023 Bricks in Motion Awards[]

The BiMA 2023 logo, by Nathan Wells
The Bricks in Motion Awards were revived by Bricks in Motion admins Seán Willis and Chris Wynn in 2024 for 2023 brickfilms, with a new format to address one of the issues that had caused the BiMAs to cease previously. Rather than the organizers needing to keep track of all brickfilms released anywhere within the previous year, it was changed so that films needed to have been shared by their creator to Bricks in Motion in any way (via the website, the Discord, or submitted to an official Bricks in Motion contest or event) in order to be eligible to be nominated.[29] The BiMA 2023 judging panel consisted of Jared Gilbert, Andrew "BlueBrick" K., Zach Macias, Jonathan Mangiapane, James Morr, William Osborne, Robin Roschlau, Seán Willis, and Chris Wynn. A new logo was provided by previous BiMA co-host Nathan Wells. The categories Best Vocal Performance and Best Ensemble Cast were combined into one Best Voice Acting category. The nominees were announced on Brickfilm Day 2024 on May 11, 2024, and the winners were announced on a livestream with many of the judges together in person on June 7, 2024.[30]
2024 Bricks in Motion Awards[]

The BiMA 2024 logo, by Nathan Wells
The 2024 Bricks in Motion Awards were organized by Seán Willis and Chris Wynn.[31] The BiMA 2024 judging panel consisted of "JO Co", Zach Macias, Ian McNinch, James Morr, "Orca Studios", William Osborne, Robin Roschlau, "The Tenacious Brick", Seán Willis, and Chris Wynn. The number of nominees was expanded from 5 to 6 in each category apart from Best Film, which was expanded from 8 to 10. The nominees were announced on February 23, 2025, and the winners were announced on March 15, 2025.[32]
References[]
- ↑ 2005 BAMPA Nominee Announcements Thread
- ↑ BAMPA 2005 Awards Thread
- ↑ News updates for the 2005 BAMPAS
- ↑ Account of IronBrick
- ↑ BAMPA 2006 Nominee Announcement Thread
- ↑ BAMPA 2006 Winners Announcement Thread
- ↑ News updates for the 2006 BAMPAs, including a list of judges
- ↑ Example of a graphic from the BAFA awards
- ↑ BAFA Discussion Thread
- ↑ BAFA winners announced
- ↑ Thread regarding the BAFAs in 2009
- ↑ 2008 BAFA nominees thread
- ↑ Status of the 2008 BAFAs in February 2009
- ↑ 2008 Bricks in Motion Awards Announcement Thread
- ↑ Bricks in Motion Awards Results Thread
- ↑ BiMA2009 Nominees Thread
- ↑ BiMA2009 Winners Thread
- ↑ News article on Keshen
- ↑ Dylan Woodley on why the 2010 awards failed
- ↑ Philip Heinrich on what happened to the 2010 awards
- ↑ Viewers' Choice shortlist for the cancelled 2010 BiMAs
- ↑ 2011 Bricks in Motion Award Nominee Anouncement Thread
- ↑ Bricks in Motion Awards 2011 Winners Announcement Thread
- ↑ BiMA 2014 results
- ↑ 2014 BiMA nominees thread
- ↑ Bricks in Motion Awards 2015 nominees
- ↑ BiMA 2015 winners
- ↑ Nathan Wells's response to "Has the Bricks in Motion Awards been cancelled"
- ↑ BiMA 2023 nominees video
- ↑ BiMA 2023 nominees thread
- ↑ BiMA 2024 nominees video
- ↑ BiMA 2024 results livestream