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Annie Awards

Film award

Film award

FieldValue
current_awards53rd Annie Awards
awarded_forExcellence in animation
presenterASIFA-Hollywood
countryUnited States
year
website
image2Annie Awards wordmark (2023).svg

The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation, the award has been given to individual works since 1992, becoming the biggest awards ceremony in the United States for the animation industry.

Membership in ASIFA-Hollywood is divided into three main categories: General Member (for professionals), Patron (for enthusiasts of animation), and Student Member. Members in each category pay a fee to belong to the branch. Selected professional members of the branch are permitted to vote to decide the awards.

The 48th and 49th Annie Awards ceremonies were held virtually on April 16, 2021, and March 12, 2022, respectively, due to the then ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

History

In 1972, June Foray first conceived the idea of awards for excellence in the field of animation. With the approval of ASIFA-Hollywood president Nick Bosustow, an Annie Award 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 Betty Boop, bringing Popeye, and Olive Oyl to the animated screen, and for inventing the technique of rotoscoping.

Naming "Annie Awards"

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

Trophy

The first trophy for the Annie Award trophy was presented in the second award ceremony, to Walter Lantz, the founder of Walter Lantz Productions and creator of Woody Woodpecker. Made of wood and plastic, it was shaped like a zoetrope. The next year, Tom Woodward designed the trophy now presented.

Award categories

Current categories

As of 2025, 37 categories are presented including for film and television productions. Production

  • Best Animated Feature
  • Best Animated Feature – Independent
  • Best Animated Special Production
  • Best Animated Short Subject
  • Best Animated Sponsored Production
  • Best General Audience Animated Television Broadcast Production
  • Best TV Production for Children
  • Best TV Production for Preschool Children
  • Best Student Film
  • Best TV/Media – Limited Series

Individual achievement in Film

  • Outstanding Animated Effects
  • Outstanding Character Animation – Animation
  • Outstanding Character Animation – Live Action
  • Outstanding Character Design
  • Outstanding Directing
  • Outstanding Editorial
  • Outstanding Music
  • Outstanding Production Design
  • Outstanding Storyboarding
  • Outstanding Voice Acting
  • Outstanding Writing Individual achievement in Television, Broadcast and Video Game
  • Outstanding Animated Effects
  • Outstanding Character Animation – TV/Media
  • Outstanding Character Animation – Video Game
  • Outstanding Character Design
  • Outstanding Directing
  • Outstanding Editorial
  • Outstanding Music
  • Outstanding Producing
  • Outstanding Production Design
  • Outstanding Storyboarding
  • Outstanding Voice Acting
  • Outstanding Writing

Juried awards

  • June Foray Award
  • Ub Iwerks Award
  • Winsor McCay Award
  • Special Achievement in Animation
  • Certificates of Merit

Defunct categories

  • Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
  • Best Virtual Reality Production
  • Outstanding Animated Effects – Live Action
  • Best Animated Television Production
  • Best Animated Video Game

Balloting controversies and criticism

2008 Best Short Subject mixup

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. Even though ASIFA apologized to Hertzfeldt, they took no further action and carried on with the event, awarding the prize to the Pixar short, Your Friend the Rat. (Hertzfeldt would eventually win the award for his 2015 Oscar-nominated short film World of Tomorrow.)

Dreamworks upset and Disney boycott

In 2009, DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda swept the Annie Awards in a surprise upset over Pixar's WALL-E, which won no Annie Awards but did go on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Many felt that the vote had been rigged: DreamWorks at the time gave each of their employees a free membership to ASIFA-Hollywood, which in turn conferred voting rights. (For most film awards, voting rights cannot be bought but must be conferred by one's peers.)

As a result, Walt Disney Studios decided to cease submissions and support for the 2010 Annie Awards from their two animated film divisions, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. Due to Disney's complaints, ASIFA-Hollywood changed the rules on voting for individual achievement categories, making those categories only available to professionals within those categories. ASIFA-Hollywood head Antran Manoogian also said that Annie voters would in the future have to be approved by a committee and non-professionals would now be ineligible to vote.

That was not enough for Disney president Ed Catmull, who had called for an advisory committee of relevant executives 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." ASIFA-Hollywood did not agree to this demand.

Disney and Pixar rejoined the Annie Awards in 2011, with no formal announcement. Ironically, earlier that year, the Annie Awards had a near-exact replay of the 2009 results, with DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon sweeping all the major Annie Awards over Pixar's Toy Story 3, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and also received a nomination for Best Picture.

Records

Film

The following nominees (motion pictures and direct-to-video films) received multiple nominations:

NominationsFilm
16*The Incredibles*
*Kung Fu Panda*
*Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*
15*How to Train Your Dragon*
*The Iron Giant*
14*Inside Out*
13*Coco*
*The Boxtrolls*
*The Hunchback of Notre Dame*
*Ratatouille*
12*Finding Nemo*
*Kung Fu Panda 2*
*Mulan*
*Shrek*
11*The Emperor's New Groove*
*Tarzan*
*Zootopia*
*Incredibles 2*
10*Brave*
*The Breadwinner*
*Coraline*
*Elio*
*Frozen*
*The Good Dinosaur*
*How to Train Your Dragon 2*
*KPop Demon Hunters*
*Kubo and the Two Strings*
*Lilo & Stitch*
*Monsters University*
*Ralph Breaks the Internet*
*Raya and the Last Dragon*
*Rise of the Guardians*
*Soul*
*Surf's Up*
*Wolfwalkers*
*The Wild Robot*
*Wreck-It Ralph*
9
*Anastasia*
*Cars*
*Encanto*
*Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio*
*Madagascar*
*Nimona*
*Puss in Boots*
*Rango*
*Toy Story*
*Toy Story 2*
*Up*
8
*Cats Don't Dance*
*Flushed Away*
*Frozen II*
*Hotel Transylvania*
*Luca*
*Missing Link*
*The Mitchells vs. the Machines*
*Monsters, Inc.*
*Over the Hedge*
*ParaNorman*
*The Princess and the Frog*
*Rio*
*The Road to El Dorado*
*Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron*
*Winnie the Pooh*
7*Big Hero 6*
*The Boy and the Heron*
*Brother Bear*
*Cars 2*
*Despicable Me*
*Early Man*
*Ice Age*
*Klaus*
*Little Amélie or the Character of Rain*
*Minions*
*Onward*
*Pocahontas*
*Song of the Sea*
*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*
*Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*
*Shark Tale*
*Shrek 2*
*Suzume*
*Treasure Planet*
*Turning Red*
*Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl*
*WALL-E*
*Zootopia 2*
6*Hercules*
*Arthur Christmas*
*Atlantis: The Lost Empire*
*The Boss Baby*
*The Croods: A New Age*
*Elemental*
*Ernest & Celestine*
*How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World*
*I Lost My Body*
*The Lego Movie*
*The Lion King*
*Megamind*
*Moana*
*Monster House*
*Open Season*
*Osmosis Jones*
*Over the Moon*
*Puss in Boots: The Last Wish*
*The Sea Beast*
*Toy Story 4*
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem*
*The Willoughbys*
5*Anomalisa*
*Arco*
*The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn*
*The Bad Guys*
*The Bad Guys 2*
*Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*
*Belle*
*Bolt*
*The Book of Life*
*Dinosaur*
*Fantasia 2000*
*Frankenweenie*
*A Goofy Movie*
*Ghost in the Shell*
*Horton Hears a Who!*
*The Jungle Book 2*
*The Illusionist*
*Inside Out 2*
*Mary Poppins Returns*
*The Peanuts Movie*
*The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!*
*The Prince of Egypt*
*The Red Turtle*
*Robot Dreams*
*Shaun the Sheep Movie*
*Shrek Forever After*
*That Christmas*
*Vivo*
4*Abominable*
*Flee*
*Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence*
*The Grinch*
*Isle of Dogs*
*Kung Fu Panda 3*
*Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole*
*Marcel the Shell with Shoes On*
*Minions: The Rise of Gru*
*Moana 2*
*Space Jam*
*Spirited Away*
*Trolls World Tour*
*Ultraman: Rising*
*Weathering With You*
3*A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon*
*The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales...*
*Calamity Jane*
*Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie*
*Chicken for Linda!*
*Despicable Me 3*
*Flow*
*Ice Age: Continental Drift*
*Kung Fu Panda 4*
*The Lego Batman Movie*
*South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut*
*The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*
*Toy Story 3*
*Wendell & Wild*
*The Wind Rises*

The following winners (motion pictures and direct-to-video films) received multiple awards:

AwardsFilm
11*Coco*
10*How to Train Your Dragon*
*The Incredibles*
*Inside Out*
*Kung Fu Panda*
*Mulan*
*Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*
9*Finding Nemo*
*The Iron Giant*
*Ratatouille*
*The Wild Robot*
8*The Mitchells vs. the Machines*
*Shrek*
*Toy Story*
7*Klaus*
*Soul*
*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*
*Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*
*Toy Story 2*
6*How to Train Your Dragon 2*
*Zootopia*
5*Flushed Away*
*Frozen*
*Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio*
*Wolfwalkers*
*Wreck-It Ralph*
4*Hercules*
*Pocahontas*
*Rango*
*Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron*
*Spirited Away*
3*Coraline*
*The Emperor's New Groove*
*Encanto*
*Fantasia 2000*
*I Lost My Body*
*Kubo and the Two Strings*
*The Lion King*
*Marcel the Shell with Shoes On*
*Over the Hedge*
*The Princess and the Frog*
2
*Avatar: The Way of Water*
*The Boxtrolls*
*The Boy and the Heron*
*Cats Don't Dance*
*Flow*
*Kung Fu Panda 2*
*Nimona*
*Puss in Boots: The Last Wish*
*Up*

TV

The following nominees (TV shows, specials, and special presentations) received multiple wins and nominations:

NominationsShow
50*The Simpsons*
34*Mickey Mouse*
24*The Fairly OddParents*
*King of the Hill*
21*Futurama*
20*Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*
19*Star Wars: The Clone Wars*
17*SpongeBob SquarePants*
*Bob's Burgers*
16*Arcane*
14*Dragons: Riders of Berk*
*Gravity Falls*
*Love, Death & Robots*
12*Adventure Time*
*Dexter's Laboratory*
*The Penguins of Madagascar*
11*My Life as a Teenage Robot*
*Family Guy*
*Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness*
*Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice*
10*Batman Beyond*
*Pinky and the Brain*
*Samurai Jack*
*Trollhunters*
9*Animaniacs*
*The Powerpuff Girls*
*Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure*
8*Hilda*
*Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five*
*Prep & Landing*
7*Avatar: The Last Airbender*
*Batman: The Animated Series*
*Blue Eye Samurai*
*The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse*
*Invader ZIM*
*Kim Possible*
*The Mighty B!*
*Star Wars: Visions*
6*Chowder*
*Cow and Chicken*
*El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera*
*Johnny Bravo*
*Justin Time*
*Merry Madagascar*
*Oni: Thunder God's Tale*
*The Amazing World of Gumball*
*The House*
*The Ren & Stimpy Show*
*Timon & Pumbaa*
5*[101 Dalmatians: The Series](101-dalmatians-the-series)*
*The Angry Beavers*
*Danny Phantom*
*Gargoyles*
*Great Minds Think For Themselves*
*Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire*
*The Legend of Korra*
*Max Steel*
*Mickey Mouse Works*
*Scared Shrekless*
*Steven Universe*
*TRON: Uprising*
*The Tick*
*Time Squad*

The following winners (TV shows, specials, and special presentations) received multiple awards:

AwardsShow
34*The Simpsons*
21*Mickey Mouse*
16*Arcane*
9*Futurama*
8*Love, Death & Robots*
7*Hilda*
6*Blue Eye Samurai*
*Samurai Jack*
*SpongeBob SquarePants*
5*Avatar: The Last Airbender*
*Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*
*Kung Fu Panda Holiday*
*Pinky and the Brain*
4*Dragons: Riders of Berk*
*The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse*
*The Fairly OddParents*
*King of the Hill*
*The Penguins of Madagascar*
*Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice*
*Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five*
*Trollhunters*
3*Batman Beyond*
*Bojack Horseman*
*Cow and Chicken*
*Dexter's Laboratory*
*Duckman*
*Family Guy*
*Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur*

Other

Films (feature-lengths and shorts)

  • First non-English-language film to win Best Animated Feature
    • Spirited Away (2002)
  • First stop-motion film to win Best Animated Feature
    • Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
  • Most awards won by a feature-length film: 11
    • Coco (2017)
  • Most awards won by a short film: 4
    • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)
  • Most awards sweep every nominations with more than 3 by feature-length films: 15 films
    • Coco (2017); with all 11 categories won out of 13 nominations.
    • The Incredibles (2004), Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Kung Fu Panda (2008); with all 10 categories won out of 16 nominations.
    • The Iron Giant (1999) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010); with all 10 categories won out of 15 nominations.
    • Mulan (1998); with all 10 categories won out of 12 nominations.
    • Finding Nemo (2002); with all 9 categories won out of 12 nominations
    • The Wild Robot (2024); with all 9 categories won out of 10 nominations
    • The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021); with all 8 categories won out of 8 nominations.
    • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Klaus (2019) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023); with all 7 categories won out of 7 nominations.
    • Pocahontas (1995); with all 4 categories won out of 7 nominations.
    • Spirited Away (2002); with all 4 categories won out of 4 nominations.
    • I Lost My Body (2019); with all 3 categories won out of 3 nominations.
  • Most nominations received by feature-length films: 16
    • The Incredibles (2004), Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Kung Fu Panda (2008)
  • Most nominations received by a short film: 9
    • Prep & Landing (2009)
  • Most nominations received without a single win by a feature-length film: 0 out of 13
    • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Television

  • Most wins received by a single season: 9
    • Arcane (first season, 2021)
  • Most awards sweep every nominations with more than 3 in a single year
    • Arcane (first season, 2021); with all 9 categories won out of 9 nominations

References

References

  1. "ASIFA-Hollywood – History".
  2. "53rd Annual Annie Awards".
  3. Shanfeld, Ethan. (January 20, 2022). "Annie Awards 2022 Move to March, Go Virtual Due to COVID Concerns".
  4. Sandell, Scott. (July 28, 2017). "Classic Hollywood: June Foray, a profile in characters". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  5. (July 27, 2017). "June Foray, Voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Dies at 99".
  6. "An Interview with June Foray". Annie Awards.
  7. "Rules and Categories".
  8. (September 12, 2022). "50th Annie Awards Call for Entries with New Limited Series Category".
  9. "Why Don Hertzfeldt Probably Won't Win an Annie". Cartoon Brew.
  10. Debruge, Peter. (August 25, 2010). "Disney withdraws from Annie Awards". Variety.
  11. Pond, Steve. (August 18, 2011). "Disney, Pixar End Annie Awards Boycott".
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