Hello one and all, and welcome to THAC 2026. I am thrilled to be hosting my 5th consecutive THAC and once again, I want to thank every single one of you that took part earlier this year, to make our 20th Anniversary Special our biggest yet with a total of 194 accepted entries!!!

Check out the announcement video:

Special thanks to James Morr of tiny Angry Dog Studios for designing the brilliant logo.

The Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest, or THAC for short, is a Brickfilming competition that lasts exactly 24 hours. All writing, recording, animating, and editing must be completed within the span of one day. It is as challenging as it sounds, but equal parts fun and a major staple of the community!

THAC will commence on Saturday, January the 3rd at 7:00 am EST. It will end exactly 24 hours later, on Sunday, January the 4th at 7:00 am EST. A countdown to the contest can be found here.

Anyone who is not banned from Bricks in Motion is eligible to enter THAC. The email address to submit entries to will be listed in the "THAC 2026 STARTS NOW!" thread and the THAC 2026 launch video that will be posted on January 3rd, 2026. You do not need to have an account on Bricks in Motion, but it is encouraged that you join the site or Discord and get involved with the community. Judges may participate but are disqualified from being ranked and from receiving prizes. Joint productions are allowed, but it is up to you to divide up the prizes if you win anything.

To assure that you create your entry within the 24 hour time frame and to prevent cheating, the theme will be announced at the start of the contest. You are allowed to brainstorm ideas beforehand and/or prepare builds for your sets, but there is no guarantee that your ideas will match the theme. The theme will either be a single word or phrase. For example, the last THAC’s theme was “Fulfill”.

You must include the THAC logo for at least 3 uninterrupted seconds of your entry. This could be at any point in your video and any variation of the logo that will be provided. Several high-quality resolution versions of the THAC 2026 logo will be available on the day and will be accessed from the "THAC 2026 Starts Now!" thread.

In addition, we also require the use of the “mod element.” A mod element is a visual component that must be physically included in each shot of your film to prove that it was made in the 24 hour timeframe. There is an exception however, with a 15 second lenience rule. You do not have to include the mod element for a maximum of 15 seconds. Hopefully, this will allow you to film close-ups or other shots where it may be difficult to incorporate the mod elements. Additionally, we want to provide leeway to entrants who forget to include a mod element in a shot or two. In short, if you omit or forget the mod element in a few shots–that’s okay! Just make sure the shots without the mod do not exceed 15 seconds. Additionally, we do allow mod elements to be cropped out in some shots but you must provide proof that the mod element was present, by including an uncropped still of the shot in your submission email.

There will be two mod elements to choose from–you do not need to use both, you can pick one or the other, or even mix and match them. As with the theme, these mod elements will be announced at the start of the contest. The first mod element is a color mod. This will be a combination of two random bricks that must be connected together or touching. (For example, a green brick connected to a white brick.) The second mod element is a letter mod. This could be any one of the 26 letters in the English alphabet. You may use upper or lowercase versions of the letter, but the letter must be recognizable. Check out Chris W.’s video about mod elements: https://youtu.be/YKO2McX25jY

• Your entry must be entirely animated and edited during the 24-hour period. To prove this and as a long-time tradition of the contest, mod elements must appear in every shot of your film with the exception of 15 seconds.

• Your entry must consist primarily of LEGO (or similar building block toy) stop motion animation. Live action, CGI, and hand drawn animation are allowed but stop motion must be the primary focus.

• Your entry must consist of at least 30 seconds of stop motion animation. There is no maximum time limit.

• No mature or explicit content is allowed. This includes but is not limited to: swearing, excessive gore, overt sexual content, and blatant drug references. (If you are unsure about whether your film will be accepted, ask me or one of the judges).

• While flashing lights imagery is not directly forbidden, you are required to include an epilepsy warning, both at the start of the video and in your submission email. If strobe lighting is deemed too excessive by the judges, you might be asked to alter your submission or face disqualification.

• You may not make your entry public until after the deadline. The entry you make public must be the entry you submit to the judges. You cannot create a version of your film that includes the mod element to send to the judges and then release a second version of the film with the mod element removed. Once the judging process is over and the official results have been announced, you can make any changes you wish.

• Use of copyrighted material (such as music) is allowed, though be aware of copyright infringement. Use of copyrighted material will not affect the judging of your entry. Additionally, due to time restraints of the contest, music may be created before the contest. While using copyrighted/trademarked material is allowed, you are discouraged from basing your entry on pre-existing franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, etc. There is no direct score deduction, but a film that uses pre-existing intellectual properties will not be viewed as favorable as a film that creates something entirely new.

Entries will be judged on criteria including originality, production value (animation, set design, cinematography, sound, etc.), story, and creative interpretation of the theme. Films will be discussed and ranked by the judges until a consensus is reached. The top three films will be eligible for the prize pool. Entries below 15th place will not be publicly ranked.
The judges this year are:

Robin
Robin is a German brickfilmer and a member of the Bricks in motion mod team. He has been brickfilming since 2009 and has won multiple awards at Steinerei, winning the Best Stop-Motion Animation and Newcomer categories in 2023 and Audience Prize Winner award in 2025.

The Tenacious Brick
Sam of The Tenacious Brick is a brickfilmer from the UK. He placed 2nd in THAC XV in 2018 with his film Corn Season and 11th place in last year’s THAC with Full Phil and the Limericks.

Gregory Animations
Gregory Animations is an American brickfilmer, best known for his parody brickfilms, such as his Spider-Man Series,  Batman series, Deadpool series, and The Adventures of Aquaman series.

Nurtnaut
Nurtnaut is a New Zealand brickfilmer who has made a variety of high placing THAC and BRAWL entries in recent years, most recently coming first place in BRAWL 2025 with Who is Tying People to Train Tracks?

LOTW Studios
LOTW Studios is the current host of THAC and host of the World of Brickfilms Podcast. He is most known for his App Man series and came 1st place in BRAWL 2021, with his entry The Tracker Tracked.

The 1st place winner will have the choice to pick out of the 3, followed by the 2nd place winner, who chooses between the 2 remaining prizes, with the 3rd receiving the remaining prize.  Additionally, courtesy of Nathan Wells, all the top 3 will receive a Blu-Ray copy of the Bricks in Motion Collection, which features nearly 30 classic brickfilms from the community!

Please note that there is the possibility of supply shortages with sets, but the prizes we are offering are:

The Orient Express Train| Sherlock Holmes: Book Nook| Game Boy

In addition, there is a separate prize category: Promising Director. This will be awarded to a film that while not necessarily in the top ten, the judges feel displays the creator's passion for their work and their potential to become a great brickfilm director in the future.

Record Player with Flowers

If you have any questions, please contribute to the discussion below, or message me on the Bricks in Motion Discord!

Last edited by William Osborne (December 1, 2025 (02:45pm))