******PRESS RELEASE******
For Immediate Release
The AuSPEC AWARDS Competition is Back! You Can Put Autistic Characters in Your Favorite Kids Cartoons
BURBANK, CA – October 19, 2026
If you want to write on a kids animated show, the AuSPEC AWARDS can help you make a real step in that direction.
After giving out 17 awards to working and aspiring animation writers from all across the country in April 2026 at Nickelodeon Animation Studios, the AuSPEC AWARDS competition has opened the doors to its 2027 applicants. The competition invites writers to pick a current kids animated series, write an 11-minute episode of the show, and include a series regular “meaningfully interacting with an explicitly autistic character.” Awards are given for several categories like Funniest Script, Best Nonspeaking Character, Best Adventure Script and Best Explanation of Autism.
Category winners will get “meetings with current animation showrunners, managers and creative executives, and an invitation to the AuSPEC AWARDS in April 2027. And there will be a $2,500 Grand Prize!”
There aren’t very many autistic characters in kids pop culture, even though the CDC currently estimates that 1 in 31 kids is autistic. In the world of kids television animation, only a handful of characters are explicitly autistic. The AuSPEC AWARDS are designed give a career boost to animation writers, as well as help get more autistic characters in kids pop culture, entertaining while also modeling for kids how to interact with their autistic peers.
Some outstanding animation writers got their flowers in April 2026 when the winners of the AuSPEC AWARDS were handed out. “What an amazing event!” gushed Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants and presenter of the award for Best Musical Script. “What an amazing collection of talented and beautiful people.” It was “formal or fun” at the ceremony held by The Autism Scene, a nonprofit that advocates for the inclusion of more explicitly autistic characters in kids pop culture and runs the AuSPEC AWARDS competition.
Tom Kenny presenting Best Musical Script at the 2026 AuSPEC AWARDS Ceremony at Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Niya Wright emceed the evening with positive energy and deep empathy, drawing on her experience in creating the nonspeaking autistic character of Nassan for the Netflix animated show Ada Twist, Scientist. Her producer on that show, Kerri Grant, presented the award for Best Friendship Script to Ari Donnelly for his Kiff episode about making friends while waiting in line at a comic con. Other presenters included animation luminaries like Rick and Morty executive producer Monica Mitchell, autistic writer and voice actor Analesa Fisher, animation writers Patrick Rieger and Alyssa Feller, Autism in Entertainment founder Judi Uttal, and DC Animated Universe writer and producer Jim Krieg.
Jim Krieg presenting Best Superhero Script
One of the AuSPEC AWARDS judges was Alfonso Julián Camacho, a nonspeaking autistic advocate and author of “Autistic & Awesome: A Journal from the Inside,” who used his augmentative and alternative communication (“AAC”) device to offer comments to the audience of animation writers and executives. “Our entertainment and advertising industries are evolving, recognizing the value and beauty of a truly diverse society,” said Camacho. “Tonight, we are all contributors to that positive evolution.” Camacho’s own company, Builders of Eloquence and Engagement, offered $500 in prize money to the winners of the Best Nonspeaking Character and Best Use of an AAC Device awards.
AuSPEC AWARDS judge Alfonso Julián Camacho and The Autism Scene executive director Britton Payne
Another AuSPEC judge, an autistic animation writer and registered social worker Daniel Share-Strom, appeared by video to offer thoughts authentically creating autistic characters. His number one rule? Work with autistic people. Share-Strom should know – he created the autistic train car Bruno the Brake Car for the Thomas and Friends franchise.
The most unusual award of the evening was Best Card Battle Script, presented by the animation writer and executive Nicole Dubuc. “We were initially surprised how many entries used card battle games as a plot device,” said Dubuc, “but it makes sense. Card battle games often have deep lore, beautiful artwork, predictable structures, and creative strategies; all things that align with strengths often seen in autism.”
Kayla Cromer is an autistic performer best known for her work as Charlie on ABC’s The Good Doctor and the comedy series Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. The kids in the audience were audibly impressed by her recreation of the voice of Twyla Boogeyman, an autistic character Cromer voiced on Nickelodeon’s animated hit Monster High. Cromer presented the 2026 AuSPEC AWARD for Best Scary Script. In presenting to the winner Austin Oguri for his Chibiverse episode, Cromer noted, “Some things that seem scary at first might not be that scary after all. Like explicitly autistic characters.”
Kayla Cromer presenting Best Scary Script
Animation executive and creative producer Eric Coleman presented the award for Best Script by an Unsolicited Writer. “The energy and the spirit and the talent and the love and the support and the good vibes in this room. It's fantastic.”
The AuSPEC AWARDS competition aims to show that autistic characters can and should be in all styles and genres of kids animation – just like in the real world. As the executive director of The Autism Scene Britton Payne puts it, “Autistic people are in every part of life, and belong in every part of kids animation – comedy, adventure, mystery, sci-fi, history – all of it!”
The AuSPEC AWARDS competition is open for submissions at TheAutismScene.org.
“Don’t be afraid to write a story that includes someone with autism just because you don’t have autism, or because you don’t have someone in your family who does,” says Wright. “You can get the right support to make an authentic character. You can make an amazing story.”
