Next weekend the Annie Awards ceremony will once again take place. The awards will recognize the year’s best in the field of animation with the ceremony taking place on February 17th at UCLA’s Royce Hall…and we will be in attendance once again! With the award season in full swing nominations for the Annie Awards, which are often seen as a precursor for the Oscars Awards animation categories, were announced a few weeks ago.
Not surprisingly at all, Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse picked up 7 nominations (which matches the total that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse got) including Best Feature, Best FX-Feature, Best Character Design-Feature, Best Direction-Feature, Best Music-Feature, Best Production Design-Feature, and Best Editorial-Feature. Also with 7 nominations were Suzume (Best Feature, Best FX-Feature, Best Character Animation-Feature, Best Music-Feature, Best Storyboarding-Feature, Best Voice Acting-Feature, and Best Writing-Feature) and The Boy and the Heron (Best Feature, Best Character Animation-Feature, Best Direction-Feature, Best Music-Feature, Best Production Design-Feature, and Best Storyboarding-Feature, and Best Writing-Feature) Disney Pixar’s Elemental was close behind with 6 of their own nominations including Best FX-Feature, Best Character Animation-Feature, Best Character Design-Feature, Best Music-Feature, Best Production Design-Feature, and Best Editorial-Feature.
There are 32 different categories (see the full list here) so we will highlight a few of them.
Best Feature
Nimona Annapurna Animation for Netflix
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Sony Pictures Animation
Suzume CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY inc. / distributed by Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures and TOHO
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies
The Boy and the Heron Studio Ghibli / Distributed by GKIDS
Best Feature-Independent
Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia Folivari, Mélusine Productions, Studio Canal / Distributed by GKIDS
Four Souls of Coyote Cinemon Entertainment
Robot Dreams Arcadia Motion Pictures
The Inventor Curiosity Studios
White Plastic Sky SALTO Films & Artichoke
Best Special Production
Invincible: Atom Eve Amazon MGM Studios, Skybound Entertainment
Shape Island: The Winter Blues Bix Pix Entertainment in association with Apple
Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
The Smeds and The Smoos Magic Light Pictures
The Velveteen Rabbit Magic Light Pictures in association with Apple
Best TV/Media – Mature
Big Mouth Episode: The International Show Netflix
Blue Eye Samurai Episode: Pilot: Hammerscale A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
Bob’s Burgers Episode: Amelia 20th Television Animation
Capsules Episode: Tomato Kitchen Bilibili / Studio Reflection
Scavengers Reign Episode: The Signal Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street
Best FX – Feature
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Production Company: Netflix Presents An Aardman Production FX Production Company: Aardman Production Charles Copping, Jon Biggins, Jim Lewis, Rich Spence, Martin Lipmann
Elemental Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios FX Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios Chris Chapman, Tim Speltz, Krzysztof Rost, Amit Baadkar, Ravindra Dwivedi
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Production Company: Sony Pictures Animation FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari, Naoki Kato, Nicola Finizio, Edmond Boulet-Gilly
Suzume Production Company: CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY inc. / distributed by Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures and TOHO FX Production Company: CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY inc. Yoshitaka Takeuchi, Hiroyuki Seshita, Ryosuke Tsuda
The Peasants Production Company: Breakthru Films FX Production Company: Breakthru Productions Lukasz Mackiewicz, Kamil Polak
Which production(s) do you want to see win some of the awards? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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See full press release below.
51st ANNIE AWARD™ NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED TODAY! Annual Awards Ceremony Recognizing the Year’s Best in Animation
BURBANK, CA (January 11, 2024) – ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for its 51st Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. For a complete list of nominations, please visit www.annieawards.org/nominations.
The 51st Annie Awards™ will return to UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, February 17, 2024. Pre-reception and Red Carpet will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 7 p.m., and after party immediately following the ceremony.
This year’s Best Animated Feature nominations include: Nimona – Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Sony Pictures Animation; Suzume – CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY inc.; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; and The Boy and the Heron – Studio Ghibli / Distributed by GKIDS.
Best Animated Feature-Independent, spotlighting feature with a much smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases include: Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia – Folivari, Mélusine Productions, Studio Canal / Distributed by GKIDS; Four Souls of Coyote – Cinemon Entertainment; Robot Dreams – Arcadia Motion Pictures; The Inventor – Curiosity Studios; White Plastic Sky – SALTO Films & Artichoke
The Annie Awards™ cover 36 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Feature-Independent, Special Productions, Sponsored Films, Short Subjects, Student Films and Outstanding Individual Achievements, as well as the honorary Juried Awards.
Juried Awards will be presented during the ceremony, honoring unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. The Winsor McCay Award in recognition of lifetime or career contributions are being presented to three recipients: Legendary animator and director Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger (posthumous); prolific Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi and National Film Board animator and producer Marcy Page. The June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact will be awarded to the BRIC Foundation, Alison Mann and Nicole Hendrix, co-founders.
The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement affecting the animation industry will be presented to John Oxberry (posthumous). The Special Achievement Award recognizing unique and outstanding achievement not recognized within the existing award category structure will be presented to The Artists of Walt Disney Animation.
Many thanks to the generous support from this year’s sponsors and advertisers: Platinum – DreamWorks Animation, Netflix, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Warner Bros. Animation; Gold – Disney TV Animation and Illumination Entertainment; Silver – Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation; Bronze – GKIDS and Industry – Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF).
ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a wide range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation, open source software support, special events, classes and screenings.
Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, the Annie Awards™ have grown in scope and stature for five decades. For more information on the Annie Awards™, please visit www.annieawards.org. For ticket information, please visit www.annieawards.org/tickets.
