Happy 2022!

Today is 6^th January. Known in Ireland as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas. As a reward for their hard work over the Christmas season, it was a day off for women and traditional roles: men did the women’s work in the house while women rested and gathered together informally.

There were a number of other customs around Little Christmas. On this day in some parts of the country, mothers rubbed the tail of a herring across the eyes of their children to give immunity against disease for the rest of the year.

It was also believed that all the well water in Ireland turned into wine at midnight on Little Christmas. But it was bad luck to observe this miracle or to taste the wine water.

So, on this, Little Christmas, the last day of the season in Ireland it feels like the perfect moment to reflect on the year that has gone as we look ahead at all the potential 2022 seems to offer.

In 2021…

• Bóín agus Beach/Ladybird and Bee launched on RTÉjr.

• Happy started production on his very 1st series!

• Pablo was nominated for 3 Irish Animation Awards and our head writer Andrew Brenner brought home the Best Preschool Writing Award.

• Pablo 3 has been growing up!  We’ve been working hard in development with BBC and CAKE to see what school holds for Pablo. Stay tuned…

• Pablo Goes Shopping and Pablo at the Zoo, books both hit shelves, published by our friends at Ladybird Books at Penguin Random House.

• Jetpack, Kidscreen’s Hot 50 Number 1 distributor of 2021, picked up 3 Paper Owl shows! Florida, Mr. Dog & Ladybird and Bee are well looked after by this hard working team.

• Finding Audrey found a Canadian partner in Sinking Ship Entertainment.

• Sol won the Sanford St. Martin Awards for Children’s Content – where it was described as “truly timeless at such a timely moment”

• Florida reached the top 5 of the MIPJunior Project Pitch, out of 115 project submissions, from 41 countries and 93 companies.

• MIPCom 21 was our first conference since the beginning of the pandemic.  We met friends old and new in Cannes France as we hatched plans and dreamed big

• 12 shows went into development… more on that later.

• Summertime meant a reboot. We closed the studio for 2 (surprisingly sunny!) weeks off to recharge.

There are lots of things you can’t measure in numbers. We don’t know how many hours we’ve spent together remotely, collaborating and catching up. We don’t know exactly how many young people and their families have settled down to watch and re-watch Paper Owl shows together this year, all around the world… but we do know they were sent out into the world with love.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us 2021. Here’s to a wonderful 2022!