The Annie Awards are accolades which the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

branch of the

International Animated Film Association The International Animated Film Association (French: ''Association Internationale du Film d'Animation'', ASIFA) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France, by the best known animation artists of the time such a ...

ASIFA-Hollywood ASIFA-Hollywood, an American non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA" (the International Animated Film Association). Its purpose is to ...

, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

shown in

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

and television. Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation, the award has been given to individual works since 1992. Membership in ASIFA-Hollywood is divided into three main categories: General Member (for professionals), Patron (for enthusiasts of animation), and Student Member. Members in each category pay a fee to belong to the branch. Selected professional members of the branch are permitted to vote to decide the awards. The 48th and

49th Annie Awards The 49th ceremony of the Annie Awards, honoring excellence in the field of animation for the year of 2021, was held on March 12, 2022, at the University of California, Los Angeles's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California as a virtual event. The n ...

ceremonies were held virtually on April 16, 2021, and March 12, 2022, respectively, due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

History

In 1972,

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

first conceived the idea of awards for excellence in the field of animation. With the approval of

president Nick Bosustow, an Annie Award ceremony was organized. The first ceremony was held at the banquet room of

Sportsmen's Lodge The Sportsmen's Lodge is a hotel located on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Los Angeles, California. Operating under various names (including "Hollywood Trout Farms") since the 1880s, the Sportsmen's Lodge is a San Fernando Valley landmark and ...

Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thoroughfares in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley as it was originally a part o ...

in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...

and

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the y ...

were the first to be honored by the first Annie Awards for creating Betty Boop, bringing

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

to the animated screen, and for inventing the technique of rotoscoping.

Naming "Annie Awards"

According to Foray, her husband Hobart Donavan suggested that the awards be called "Annie", because they are presented for excellence in animation.

Trophy

The first trophy for the Annie Award trophy was presented in the second award ceremony, to

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lantz ...

, the founder of

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios. The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...

and creator of

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...

. Made of wood and plastic, it was shaped like a

zoetrope A zoetrope is one of several pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion. It was basically a cylindrical variation of the phénak ...

. The next year, Tom Woodward designed the trophy now presented.

Award categories

Current categories

As of 2022, 37 categories are presented including for film and television productions. Production * Best Animated Feature * Best Animated Feature — Independent * Best Animated Special Production * Best Animated Short Subject * Best Animated Sponsored Production * Best General Audience Animated Television Production * Best TV Production for Children * Best TV Production for Preschool Children *

Best Student Film Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

* Best TV/Media – Limited Series Individual achievement in Film * Outstanding Animated Effects * Outstanding Character Animation - Animation * Outstanding Character Animation - Live Action * Outstanding Character Design * Outstanding Directing * Outstanding Editorial * Outstanding Music * Outstanding Production Design * Outstanding Storyboarding * Outstanding Voice Acting * Outstanding Writing Individual achievement in Television, Broadcast and Video Game * Outstanding Animated Effects * Outstanding Character Animation - TV/Media * Outstanding Character Animation - Video Game * Outstanding Character Design * Outstanding Directing * Outstanding Editorial * Outstanding Music * Outstanding Production Design * Outstanding Storyboarding * Outstanding Voice Acting * Outstanding Writing Juried awards *

June Foray Award The June Foray Award is a juried award given to individuals in recognition of a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation. The award is given by the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood ...

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...

Award *

Winsor McCay Award The Winsor McCay Award is given to individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, profession ...

* Special Achievement in Animation * Certificates of Merit

Defunct categories

* Best Animated Home Entertainment Production * Best Virtual Reality Production * Outstanding Animated Effects - Live Action

Balloting controversies and criticism

2008 Best Short Subject mixup

In 2008, the Annie Award nominees for Best Short Subject included two

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

cartoons, a

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

short, and two independent films: Picnic Pictures' '' The Chestnut Tree'', and Don Hertzfeldt's short ''

Everything Will Be OK ''Everything Will Be OK'' is a 2006 animated absurdist black comedy short film by Don Hertzfeldt. It is the first chapter of a three-part story about a man named Bill. Hertzfeldt released the second film in the series, titled '' I Am So Proud of ...

''. Official rules for the Annie Awards state that voting members must view all nominated achievements in their entirety before casting their ballot for a winner. Members are directed to view the nominated films on a secure website. When the online ballot launched on January 15, the two independent films were not included for voters to judge. ASIFA acknowledged this error over a week later, at which point all the votes were reportedly thrown out and the balloting system was reset. Voters were instructed to return and re-vote the category. "The Chestnut Tree" was now uploaded properly to the ballot; however, ''

'' was again not included: this time, the online ballot only played a portion of this film's 17-minute running time to voters, abruptly cutting out in the middle of a scene. ASIFA again took several days to repair the ballot, but this time allowed voting to continue. By the time the ballot officially closed on February 1, ''

'' was only available to voters for less than 24 hours of the entire 18-day voting period. Even though ASIFA apologized to Hertzfeldt, they took no further action and carried on with the event, awarding the prize to the

short, ''

Your Friend the Rat ''Your Friend the Rat'' is a 2007 American computer animated short film by Pixar. The special takes on the form of an educational film and stars rats Remy and Emile, the main protagonists of ''Ratatouille'', who argue for the reconciliation of hu ...

''. (Hertzfeldt would eventually win the award for his 2015 Oscar-nominated short film '' World of Tomorrow''.)

''Kung Fu Panda'' upset and Disney boycott

In 2009,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

's ''

Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily voic ...

'' swept the Annie Awards in a surprise upset over

's ''

WALL-E ''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...

'', which won no Annie Awards but did go on to win the

Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by- ...

. Many felt that the vote had been rigged: DreamWorks at the time gave each of their employees a free membership to ASIFA-Hollywood, which in turn conferred voting rights. (For most film awards, voting rights cannot be bought but must be conferred by one's peers.) As a result, Walt Disney Studios decided to cease submissions and support for the 2010 Annie Awards from their two animated film divisions,

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

and Pixar. Due to Disney's complaints, ASIFA-Hollywood changed the rules on voting for individual achievement categories, making those categories only available to professionals within those categories. ASIFA-Hollywood head Antran Manoogian also said that Annie voters would in the future have to be approved by a committee and non-professionals would now be ineligible to vote. That was not enough for Disney president Ed Catmull, who had called for an advisory committee of relevant executives representing each studio to recommend rule changes to the ASIFA board. Catmull said, "We believe there is an issue with the way the Annies are judged, and have been seeking a mutually agreeable solution with the board. Although some initial steps have been taken, the board informed us that no further changes would be made to address our concerns." ASIFA-Hollywood did not agree to this demand. Disney and Pixar rejoined the Annie Awards in 2011, with no formal announcement. Ironically, earlier that year, the Annie Awards had a near-exact replay of the 2009 results, with Dreamworks Animation's ''

How to Train Your Dragon ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (abbreviated ''HTTYD'') is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: ' ...

'' sweeping all the major Annie Awards over Pixar's ''

Toy Story 3 ''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 2'' (1999). It was d ...

'', which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and also received a nomination for

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Notable nominations

Film

The following nominees (motion pictures and direct-to-video films) received multiple nominations: The following winners (motion pictures and direct-to-video films) received multiple awards:

TV

The following nominees (TV shows, specials, and special presentations) received multiple wins and nominations: The following winners (TV shows, specials, and special presentations) received multiple awards:

References

External links

Annie Awards
official site
Archived
from the original on July 12, 2015. {{Animation industry in the United States American animation awards Career awards International Animated Film Association Recurring events established in 1972 History of animation