Seven European companies have been nominated for this year's Cartoon Movie Tributes which will be awarded to three players who have had a positive and dynamic influence on the European animation feature film industry.

The final three winners will be voted on by the animation industry professionals attending the 4th edition of the Cartoon Movie financing market at the Babelsberg Studios from March 14-16 and announced at a closing ceremony in Berlin on March 16.

The seven nominees are:

Cinelibre-Cineart (Belgium) - For the Best Distribution of European Animation Films. Over the last two years, Cinelibre-Cineart has distributed 13 European animated features, including Becassine, Le Tresor Viking, Chicken Run and La Gabianella & Il Gatto.

Dansk Tegnefilm 2 (Denmark) - For its Consistent Production in the Last Fifteen Years. The company's production credits include War Of The Birds, Cirkeline and The Child Who Wanted To Be A Bear.

Dygra Films-Megatrix (Spain) - For the First CGI Feature in Europe. The Living Forest was one of the top Spanish films of 2001 and won two Golden Goya Awards.

France Television Group (France) - For the Strongest Co-production Policy. Since 1997, the group has invested over Euros 6m in animated features such as Kirikou Et La Sorciere, Babar and Pinocchio 2001.

Rothkirch/Cartoon-Film (Germany) - For their Global Development Strategy. An agreement was negotiated with Warner Bros for the national and international distribution of Tobias Totz and The Little Polar Bear.

Terraglyph (Ireland) - For the Best European Cooperation Policy. Recent collaborations include Carnivale with Millimages, Help! I'm a Fish with A.Film, and Moby Dick: The Legend Returns with Trixter Film GmbH.

TFC Trickompany Filmproduktion (Germany) - For the Largest Audience Drawn by the Whole Production. Eight of TFC's films - from Werner - Beinhart to Kommando Stoertebeker - attracted over 17m admissions.

Over 450 producers, investors, broadcasters, distributors and representatives of facility studios will be attending the 4th Edition of Cartoon Movie, organised by the Brussels-based initiative Cartoon with the support of the Media Plus Programme and Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, to negotiate the support of 47 new European animated feature films at different stages of production.