 Lord and Sproxton began hiring more animators at this point; three of the newcomers made their directorial debut at Aardman with the "Lip Synch" series.Of the five "Lip Synch" shorts, two were directed by Lord, one by Barry Purves, one by Richard Goleszowski and one by Nick Park.In 1991, Park's short, "Creature Comforts", was the first Aardman production to win an Academy Award.