Women in Animation Diversity Awards Will Honor ‘Doc McStuffins‘ Creator Chris Nee, Epic Games

Katie Reul
·2 min read
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Writer-producer Chris Nee will be honored at the sixth annual Women in Animation (WIA) Diversity Awards alongside Iranian director Seyed Mohsen Pourmohseni Shakib and representatives from Epic Games for exemplary achievement in leading diversification efforts within the animation industry.

Nee’s career began as an associate producer at Sesame Street Intl., but her ultimate legacy lies in the creation of Disney Junior’s “Doc McStuffins” — the first preschool show to ever feature a young Black girl using science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, which 7-year-old Dottie “Doc” McStuffins uses to heal her injured toys.

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The show rapidly became one of the most popular children’s TV shows, and harnessed its platform to positively influence viewers’ perceptions of Black and female physicians as well as break boundaries as the first Disney show to ever feature an interracial lesbian couple. Nee’s brainchild went on to win a Peabody Award in 2014 for children’s programming.

“As we get older our priorities change, and nothing could make me prouder at this point in my career than to be recognized for working to bring new voices, diverse voices, to the table. A huge thank you to WIA and the Spark Animation Festival for the huge honor,” Nee said in a press release.

A single individual, organization and film is annually selected to be honored at the WIA Diversity Awards, which is held in partnership with Spark Computer Graphics Society. Mohsen Pourmohseni Shakib will be honored in the film category, following the successful receival of his short film, “It’s a Gray, Gray World.” The six-minute animation follows a young man whose colorful identity is exposed in an all-gray, monochrome world, inciting a journey of fear and near-arrest in the fight for freedom of expression.

Epic Games was chosen as the honoree for the organization category in recognition of the gaming and VFX company’s efforts to make 3D engine technology accessible to a wider demographic. The company’s MegaGrants Program has also committed to granting anywhere between $5,000 and $500,000 to aspiring creators who use Unreal Engine and lack the financial foundation to start projects in game development, architecture, film production and other disciplines.

This year’s awards will be presented by Jena Olson, head of operations at WIA, in a recorded tape that will be available online Oct. 27, the first day of the Spark Animation 2022 festival. The full Spark Animation 2022 event will run in-person and be live streamed Oct. 27-30 from Vancouver, Canada.

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