The 44th Annie Awards were held Saturday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall, toasting the best in animation with a gala ceremony complete with Red Carpet arrivals and presenters with star power.
This year’s biggest winner was Disney’s Zootopia with six awards, including Best Animated Feature and Best Directing in an Animated Feature; with LAIKA’s Kubo and the Two Strings, DreamWorks Trollhunters and Google Spotlight Stories short Pearl each scoring three.
Animation Magazine Editor-in-Chief Tom McLean live blogged the action (including appearances by Winsor McCay recipients Mamoru Oshii, Caroline Leaf and Dale Baer) on our social media feeds, so we’ll just run down the winners for you here.
Congratulations to all this year’s award recipients and their worthy competition!
PRODUCTION CATEGORIES
Best Animated Feature
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated Feature – Independent
- The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli, Wild Bunch, Why Not Productions
Best Animated Special Production
- Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation
Best Animated Short Subject
- Piper – Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial
- Loteria ‘Night Shift’ – Passion Pictures Ltd
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children
- Tumble Leaf “Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball” – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children
- Adventure Time “Bad Jubies” – Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios
Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production
- Bob’s Burgers “Glued, Where’s My Bob?” – Bento Box Entertainment
Best Student Film
- Citipati – Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
- Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Head of Effects Animation: Marlon West, Effects Lead: Erin V. Ramos, Effects Lead: Blair Pierpont, Foundation Effects Lead: Ian J. Coony, Effects Lead: John M. Kosnik
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
- Doctor Strange “Mirror Dimension” – Marvel Studios
FX Supervisor: Georg Kaltenbrunner, Digital Artist: Michael Marcuzzi, Digital Artist: Thomas Bevan, Digital Artist: Andrew Graham, Digital Artist: Jihyun Yoon
Character Animation in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- DreamWorks Trollhunters “Becoming, Part 1” – DreamWorks Animation Television
Character Animator: Mike Chaffe Characters: Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!
Character Animation in a Feature Production
- Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA
Animator: Jan Maas
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
- The Jungle Book – Walt Disney Pictures
Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Animation Supervisor: Peta Bayley, Animation Supervisor: Gabriele Zucchelli, Character Supervisor: Benjamin Jones
Character Animation in a Video Game
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Naughty Dog
Lead Animators: Jeremy Yates, Almudena Soria, Eric Baldwin, Paul Davies, Tom Bland
Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- DreamWorks Trollhunters “Win, Lose or Draal” – DreamWorks Animation Television
Character Designers: Victor Maldonado, Alfredo Torres, Jules Rigolle
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Character Designer: Cory Loftis
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Director: Patrick Osborne
Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directors: Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Composer: Scot Stafford, Composer/Lyricist: Alexis Harte, Composer/Lyricist: JJ Wiesler
Music in an Animated Feature Production
- The Little Prince – Netflix and On Animation Studios
Composer: Hans Zimmer, Composer: Richard Harvey, Composer/Lyricist: Camille
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Production Design: Tuna Bora
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
- Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA
Production Designers: Nelson Lowry, Trevor Dalmer, August Hall, Ean McNamara
Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- DreamWorks Trollhunters “Win, Lose or Draal” – DreamWorks Animation Television
Storyboard Artist: Hyunjoo Song
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboard Artist: Dean Wellins
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show “Ponce de León” – DreamWorks Animation Television
Cast: Carlos Alazraqui as Ponce de León
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production [TIE]
- Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Voice Actress: Auli’i Cravalho as Moana
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Voice Actor: Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- Bob’s Burgers “The Hormone-iums” – Bento Box Entertainment
Writers: Lizzie Molyneux, Wendy Molyneux
Writing in an Animated Feature Production
- Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Writers: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston
Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
- Disney Mickey Mouse “Sock Burglar” – Disney Television Animation
Lead Editor: Illya Owens
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
- Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA
Edited By: Christopher Murrie
JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay Award – for their career contributions to the art of animation
- Dale Baer
- Caroline Leaf
- Mamoru Oshii
Ub Iwerks Award – for technical advancement in the art of animation
- Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform
Special Achievement Award
- Life, Animated
June Foray Award – for their significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation
- Bill & Sue Kroyer
Certificate of Merit
- Leslie Ezeh
- Gary Perkovac
