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Annie Awards

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Annie Award
Current: 44th Annie Awards
DescriptionExcellence in film animation
CountryUnited States
Presented byASIFA-Hollywood
First awardedNovember 1972; 52 years ago (1972-11)
Websiteannieawards.org

The Annie Award is an American award for accomplishments in animation. The Annies have been presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972.[1] Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation, since 1992 it has given awards to individual films.

Memberships in the ASIFA-Hollywood consist of three main categories: General Member, Patron and Student Member. Joining ASIFA-Hollywood is open to professionals, students and fans of animation, for a membership fee. Selected professional members are permitted to vote for the Annie.

The 43rd Annie Awards ceremony took place on February 6, 2016, on the campus of UCLA.

History

In 1972, June Foray conceived the idea that there should be awards for animation as there were no awards for the field. With the approval of ASIFA-Hollywood president Nick Bosustow, Annie Awards ceremony was organized. The first ceremony was held at the banquet room of Sportsmen's Lodge in Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Los Angeles, California. Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer were the first to be honored by the first Annie Awards for creating the characters Betty Boop, Popeye and Olive Oyl, and for inventing the technique of rotoscoping.[2]

Naming "Annie Awards"

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

The Trophy

The first Annie Award trophy was given out in the second awards ceremony to Walter Lantz, the founder of Walter Lantz Productions and creator of Woody Woodpecker. The trophy was a brass prize shaped like a zoetrope and was made out of wood and plastic. The next year, Tom Woodward came up with the current design.

Award categories

Current Awards

Production

Individual achievement in Film

  • Outstanding Animated Effects - Animation
  • Outstanding Animated Effects - Live Action
  • Outstanding Character Animation - Animation
  • Outstanding Character Animation - Live Action
  • Outstanding Character Design
  • Outstanding Directing
  • Outstanding Music
  • Outstanding Production Design
  • Outstanding Storyboarding
  • Outstanding Voice Acting
  • Outstanding Writing
  • Outstanding Editorial

Individual achievement in Television, Broadcast and Video Game

  • Outstanding Animated Effects
  • Outstanding Character Animation
  • Outstanding Character Design
  • Outstanding Directing
  • Outstanding Music
  • Outstanding Production Design
  • Outstanding Storyboarding
  • Outstanding Voice Acting
  • Outstanding Writing
  • Outstanding Editorial

Juried awards

Balloting controversies and criticism

2008

In 2008, the Annie Award nominees for "Best Short Subject" included two Walt Disney cartoons, a Pixar short, and two independent films: Picnic Pictures' The Chestnut Tree, and Don Hertzfeldt's short, Everything Will Be OK. 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 Everything Will Be OK 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, Everything Will Be OK was only available to voters for less than 24 hours of the entire 18-day voting period.[3]

Even though ASIFA apologized to Don Hertzfeldt, they took no further action and carried on with the event, awarding the prize to the Pixar short Your Friend the Rat.

2009

In 2009, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda swept the Annie Awards in an overwhelming defeat against the eventual Oscar-winner WALL-E, which was shut out in every category. In an Oscar prediction article, New York Times writer David Carr noted, "Oscar watchers were stunned when Kung Fu Panda took all the awards from the International Animated Film Society. That was an inside job, full of backstage politics you don’t want to know about."[4] Animator Bill Plympton (himself a recipient of ASIFA's lifetime achievement award), also criticized the organization's balloting practices, writing in his blog, "I think that Jeffrey Katzenberg, who knows a good publicity opportunity when he sees it, bought ASIFA-Hollywood memberships for his entire studio, and then told them to vote the party line... The unfortunate reality is that it feels like the elections were rigged - they were bought! What a travesty." [5]

2010

In 2010, Walt Disney Studios decided to cease submissions and support for ASIFA-Hollywood's Annie Awards. At issue was the fact that anyone could buy a membership (and voting ballot) to ASIFA, whereas members of the Motion Picture Academy and other awards-giving bodies must be voted in only by their peers. Disney also believed the scales are tilted in favor of DreamWorks Animation, who gives each new employee a free membership to ASIFA-Hollywood.[6]

Due to Disney's complaints, ASIFA-Hollywood changed the rules on voting for individual achievement categories, making those categories only available to professionals. ASIFA-Hollywood head Antran Manoogian said that this was just a first step to a future move where Annie voters would have to be approved by a committee and non-professionals would now be ineligible to vote.[6]

That was not enough for Disney president Ed Catmull, who had called for an advisory committee of toon execs 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." [6]

Notable nominations

See also

References

  1. ^ "ASIFA-Hollywood - History". ASIFA-Hollywood. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  2. ^ http://annieawards.org/history
  3. ^ "Why Don Hertzfeldt Probably Won't Win an Annie". Cartoonbrew.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ David Carr (2009-02-19). "The Oscars - The Contenders, the Pools and the Show and the Hopes". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  5. ^ "Bill Plympton Studio". Plymptoons.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b c Debruge, Peter (2010-08-25). "Disney withdraws from Annie Awards - Entertainment News, Film News, Media". Variety. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
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