Within Disney itself, still largely regarded as the crown prince of animation companies, there are now several factions creating works for film and TV. In point, while Walt Disney Animation Studios won the coveted best animated feature award for its wildly successful film Frozen, artists in other areas in the company took home awards for preschool TV animation, character design in a TV production, and directing for television. This diversification has not diluted Disney’s former dominance in the animation arena; in fact, Disney, in addition to full-length features, now produces short films, traditionally animated films, computer-graphics-based films (including its coveted Pixar division in addition to other divisions), television films and series, and even releases competing foreign animated projects, all of which garnered recognition at the Annies in the form of awards in various categories.
Across the aisle, Pixar’s Monsters University, part of a run of Pixar sequels in recent years, did win for editorial and storyboarding but was not recognized on par with its parent company’s prize of the year. Not nearly a clean sweep for Frozen, the Annies also recognized Disney’s competitor DreamWorks which won awards for character design and character animation in The Croods.
In television, the grand prize went to Futurama which airs on Comedy Central but is owned by 20th Century Fox, having been created by Fox’s secret weapon, Matt Groening. Outsourced to Rough Draft Studios in Glendale, California, Futurama, now in its 10th season, at its peak employs 70 people to create episodes of the comedy show.
Among the Annies’ most touching moments was a heartfelt tribute given to Alice Davis who had designed costumes for Disney in everything from its classic feature films to Disneyland rides. Making the moment especially poignant, Davis’ June Foray award was actually presented by longtime voice actress Foray, now 96. Known as The Cartoon Queen, Foray was instrumental in the very creation of the Annie Awards.
Additional lifetime achievements, The Winsor McCay Award, were given to animation director Katsuhiro Otomo, producer and advocate Steven Spielberg, and stop-motion and computer-generated animation forerunner Phil Tippett.
Rounding out the three-hour evening was a tribute to McCay himself who 100 years ago wrote, animated, produced and directed the landmark short film Gertie the Dinosaur. A friendly animated brontosaurus, Gertie was one of the first films to show audiences that the new medium of cinema had infinite possibilities, and that animation, in equal stead to live action, could entertain movie audiences.
The winners of the 41st Annie Awards are:
Production Categories
Best Animated Feature
Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production
Chipotle “Scarecrow,” Chipotle Creative Department, Moonbot Studios
Best Animated Short Subject
Get A Horse!, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial
Despicable Me 2, Cinemark, Universal Pictures
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children
Disney Sofia the First, Disney Television Animation
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children’s Audience
Adventure Time, Cartoon Network Studios
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Futurama, 20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Video Game
The Last of Us, Naughty Dog
Best Student Film
Wedding Cake, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg – Viola Baier, Iris Frisch
Individual Achievement Categories
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, Jason Mayer
The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel
Pacific Rim, Industrial Light & Magic
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Kureha Yokoo
Toy Story OF TERROR!, Pixar Animation Studios
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
Jakob Jensen
The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Gollum, Weta Digital
Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Paul Rudish
Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, Shane Prigmore
The Croods, DreamWorks Animation
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Angus MacLane
Toy Story OF TERROR!, Pixar Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Christopher Willis
Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Music in an Animated Feature Production
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck,
Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Angela Sung, William Niu, Christine Bian, Emily Tetri, Frederic Stewart
The Legend of Korra, Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene, David Womersley
Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Daniel Chong
Toy Story of TERROR!, Pixar Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Dean Kelly
Monsters University, Pixar Animation Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Tom Kenny as the voice of Ice King
Adventure Time, Cartoon Network Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Josh Gad as the voice of Olaf
Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Lewis Morton
Futurama, 20th Century Fox Television
Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Hayao Miyazaki
The Wind Rises, Studio Ghibli/Touchstone Pictures/The Walt Disney Studios
Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Illya Owens
Disney Mickey Mouse, Disney Television Animation
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom
Monsters University, Pixar Animation Studios
JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay Award – Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg & Phil Tippett
June Foray – Alice Davis
Ub Iwerks – Dragonframe
Special Achievement – Creative Talent Network (CTN) Animation eXpo
Certificate of Merit – I Know That Voice (Documentary)