EBU experiments with CERN science series grants

The European Broadcasting Union and major particle physics lab CERN have handed out a pair of grants to help companies including Baby Cow Animation develop multiplatform projects that inspire children’s interest in science.

The EBU’s Eurovision and CERN, which is best known for creating the particle accelerator the Large Hadron Collider, launched the competition in November 2012 and attracted 23 entries from 12 European territories.

A panel of CERN scientists and EBU committee members from the likes of Germany’s ZDF, France’s Arte and Rai in Italy subsequently handed out the development grants to Baby Cow and Bigfatstudio’s Cubic, Q and Big G and Screen Glue’s Just for Quarks.

Cubic is an animated series in which robots explore fundamental science physics through slapstick humour and gags and look at mysteries such as gravity, space and the Higgs boson.

Just for Quarks is a series of short films targeting the YouTube generation about a trio of teen pranksters that all have the ability to alter the fundamental laws of physics.

Both projects will be presented at the Eurovision Science & Knowledge pitching session in September during the Eurovision TV meetings week.

“The best children’s programmes educate and inform without the viewer even being aware,” said Annika Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser, Eurovision Media’s director. “These science-themed series will not only entertain children, they will hopefully also inspire a new generation of scientists and inventors.”

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