Jenny Slate Picks the Most Wonderful Short

For our final listener challenge of the year, we asked you to make 30-second holiday filmsabout any holiday: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, Solstice, you name it. Our judge, Jenny Slate, gave a few suggestions of things to include: old people, animals (especially mice or poodles), and anything with a feast.

More than two hundred amateur filmmakers rolled up their sleeves and stuffed as much holiday spirit as possible into 30 seconds or less. Some were nice, several naughty. “There were a surprising amount of murder and murder references in these delightful Christmas shorts,” Slate says. Overall, though, she was impressed with the results. “The fact that over 200 people managed to make some concise and very entertaining and really beautiful shorts is a Christmas miracle in itself.”

WINNER:

June Tate from Madison, WI

“I was delighted by it,” Slate says. “It was a masterful piece of tiny little work. The animation style is really gorgeous, the illustrations are so sweet, and there’s so much thought put into the character design. What I really love is that the animals are trying their best to play the song and they’re not really in the right key. I think the combination of innocence [and] diligence is my favorite kind of comedy.”

HONORABLE MENTION:

Katy from New York, NY

“I thought it was hilarious and it kind of made me a little bit sad. What I love is his will to succeed. He leans over really sweetly and kisses the elbow next to him, and you don’t see the woman’s face. Then you just see her hand brush off the kiss.”

STAFF FAVORITE:

Davida from Los Angeles, CA

Thank you to everyone who entered — we were impressed with all the incredible submissions. You can watch them all here.