ASIFA-Hollywood held its 45th Annie Awards ceremony Saturday night, honoring the best in animation production and individual achievement across 36 categories (including this year’s six special juried awards recipients). The Awards were presented by industry icons including director Nora Twomey, animator Floyd Norman, and familiar Annies face Tom Kenny (who scored an award for voicing SpongeBob).
With so much incredible work under consideration, Pixar’s awards season favorite Coco came out on top with an impressive 11 wins. These included Best Animated Feature; Best Animated Effects – Shaun Galinak, Dave Hale, Jason Johnston, Carl Kaphan, Keith Daniel Klohn; Character Animation – John Chun Chiu Lee; Character Design – Daniel Arriaga, Daniela Strijleva, Greg Dykstra, Alonso Martinez & Zaruhi Galstyan; Directing – Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina; Music – Michael Giacchino, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina; Production Design – Harlye Jessup, Danielle Feinberg, Bryn Imagire, Nathaniel McLaughlin, Ernesto Nemesio; Storyboarding – Dean Kelly; Voice Acting – Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel; Writing – Adrian Molina, Matthew Aldrich and Editorial – Steve Bloom, Lee Unkrich, Greg Snyder, Tim Fox.
The Best Animated Feature-Independent was awarded to Twomey’s The Breadwinner (Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/Melusine Productions).
Major wins also went to Revolting Rhymes (Magic Light Pictures) – Best Animated Special Production; Dear Basketball (Glen Keane Productions, Kobe Studios, Believe Entertainment Group) – Best Animated Short Subject; June (Broad Reach Pictures/Chromosphere/Lyft) – Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial; Rick and Morty – Episode: 30 ‘Pickle Rick’ (Williams Street Productions) – Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production; We Bare Bears Episode: Panda’s Art (Cartoon Network Animation Studios) – Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Children; Octonauts Episode: Operation Deep Freeze (Vampire Squid Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media company, in association with Brown Bag Films) – Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children; and War For The Planet of The Apes (Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, River Road Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Daniel Barrett, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Emile Ghorayeb, Luisma Lavin Peredo, Alessandro Bonora) – Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production.
The evening was dedicated to the late, legendary June Foray — an accomplished voice actress and the driving visionary force behind the Annies.
“This year, we paid tribute to our beloved June Foray, who always delighted in seeing how the event she founded continued to grow year after year. This year was no exception,” said Frank Gladstone, Annie Awards executive producer. “June would have enjoyed the increasing numbers, but more important to her, and to us, has always been seeing the proof, inherent in the Annies, that the capability of people, worldwide, to create animated films has also continued to diversify and increase.”
And the winners are…
Best Animated Feature
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Feature-Independent
THE BREADWINNER Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/Melusine Productions
Best Animated Special Production
REVOLTING RHYMES Magic Light Pictures
Best Animated Short Subject
DEAR BASKETBALL Glen Keane Productions, Kobe Studios, Believe Entertainment Group
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial
JUNE Broad Reach Pictures/Chromosphere/Lyft
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children
OCTONAUTS “Operation Deep Freeze”
Vampire Squid Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media company, in association with Brown Bag Films
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children
WE BARE BEARS “Panda’s Art”
Cartoon Network Animation Studios
Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production
RICK AND MORTY “Pickle Rick”
Williams Street Productions
Best Student Film
POLES APART Paloma Baeza
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Shaun Galinak, Dave Hale, Jason Johnston, Carl Kaphan, Keith Daniel Klohn
Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
TROLLHUNTERS “Homecoming”
DreamWorks Animation Television
Bruno Chiou, Yi-Fan Cho, Kevin Jong , Chun-Jung Chu
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
John Chun Chiu Lee
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, River Road Entertainment, 20th Century Fox
Daniel Barrett, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Emile Ghorayeb, Luisma Lavin Peredo, Alessandro Bonora
Character Animation in a Video Game
CUPHEAD Studio MDHR
Hanna Abi-Hanna
Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK “Episode XCVI”
Adult Swim
Craig Kellman
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Daniel Arriaga, Daniela Strijleva, Greg Dykstra, Alonso Martinez, Zaruhi Galstyan
Directing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE “The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!”
Walt Disney Television Animation
Dave Wasson, Eddie Trigueros, Alonso Ramirez-Ramo
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina
Music in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE” The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!”
Walt Disney Television Animation
Christopher Willis
Music in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Michael Giacchino, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina
Production Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK “ Episode XCIII”
Adult Swim
Scott Wills
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studio
Harley Jessup, Danielle Feinberg, Bryn Imagire, Nathaniel McLaughlin, Ernesto Nemesio
Storyboarding in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE “Bee Inspired”
Walt Disney Television Animation
Eddie Trigueros
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Dean Kelly
Voice Acting in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS Nickelodeon
Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel
Writing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
RICK AND MORTY “The Ricklantis Mixup”
Williams Street Productions
Ryan Ridley, Dan Guterman
Writing in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Adrian Molina, Matthew Aldrich
Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK Episodes “XCIII,” “XCIV,” “XCIX”
Adult Swim
Paul Douglas
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
COCO Pixar Animation Studios
Steve Bloom, Lee Unkrich, Greg Snyder, Tim Fox
