ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for its 48th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation.
This year’s Best Animated Feature nominations include: Onward (Pixar Animation Studios), Soul (Pixar Animation Studios), The Croods: A New Age (DreamWorks Animation), The Willoughbys (Netflix Presents A BRON Animation Production in association with Creative Wealth Media) and Trolls World Tour (DreamWorks Animation).
Best Animated Feature-Independent, spotlighting features with a much smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases, include: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Studiocanal and Aardman present in association with Anton Capital Entertainment An Aardman Production for Netflix), Calamity Jane (Maybe Movies), On-Gaku: Our Sound (Rock’n Roll Mountain, Tip Top), Ride Your Wave (Science SARU) and Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon/Melusine).
“What an odd year this has been! While animation has fared better than much of the entertainment industry, the situation around the pandemic has thrown all of us for a loop,” remarked Frank Gladstone, Annie Awards executive producer. “We had no idea what to expect going into award season. To then see a year where we had more submissions than ever before was a huge and most welcome surprise. Though it might have initially seemed a little counter-intuitive, now we are approaching the Annies with optimism and the new year with a renewed sense of community.”
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The Annie Awards cover 36 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Feature-Independent, Special Productions, Commercials, Short Subjects, Student Films and Outstanding Individual Achievements, as well as the honorary Juried Awards.
Juried Awards will also be presented during the ceremony, honoring unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation are being presented to three recipients – Willie Ito; Posthumously to Sue Nichols; and Bruce Smith. The June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation will be awarded to animator and art director, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi.
The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Epic Games for its Unreal Engine; and The Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Howard, the documentary about lyricist and storyteller, the late Howard Ashman.
For a complete list of nominations, please visit www.annieawards.org/nominees. This year’s ceremony will be streamed live, courtesy of Variety on Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m. PST.
