kafi's first festival, spearheaded by a local animation artist, drew 235 submissions and nearly 1,000 attendees in 2002. a second festival was held in 2003. since then, an every-other-year schedule has been adopted, and kafi has developed into one of the top 20 animated film festivals in the world. the 2007 festival attracted over 500 entries from 37 countries. in addition to an animated film competition with $15,000 in prizes awarded, the festival features events for students, artists, educators, filmmakers and the general public. past kafi award winners include bill plympton, karen aqua, chris landreth and john canemaker.