The popular children's television show "Masha i Medved" (Masha and the Bear) has become the first Russian cartoon to pick up a gong at the equivalent of the Oscars for animation films.
The prestigious 2015 Kidscreen Award for best animation in the Creative Talent category was handed over last month at a ceremony in Miami, Florida, the animators said on their website.
"This is practically the first time that a Russian animation series has been recognized at an international professional level," producer Dmitry Loveiko told the Izvestia daily on Tuesday, describing the prize as the Academy Awards of the children's television industry.
Masha and the Bear tells the story of a mischievous girl and her friend — a former circus performer — and the scrapes that they get into together.
According to the producers, the cartoon is "a metaphor of how a child interacts with the big world and how an adult can aid with this difficult task."
Its rights have been bought by some of the biggest broadcasters including NBC Universal, France Television and Turner, who own Cartoon Network.
The "Masha and the Bear" YouTube channel garnered more than 2.5 billion views in 2014 — making it the 20th most popular channel on the Internet video streamer last year, Izvestia reported.
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