48th Annie Award Nominations Announced

48th Annie Award Nominations Announced

March 3rd, 2021

Jerry Beck

ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for its 48th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. For a complete list of nominations, please visit www.annieawards.org/nominees. This year’s ceremony will be streamed live, courtesy of Variety on Friday, April 16th at 7 p.m. PST.

This year’s Best Animated Feature nominations include: Onward (Pixar Animation Studios), Soul (Pixar Animation Studios), The Croods: A New Age (DreamWorks Animation), The Willoughbys (Netflix Presents A BRON Animation Production in association with Creative Wealth Media) and Trolls World Tour (DreamWorks Animation).

Best Animated Feature-Independent, spotlighting features with a much smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases, include: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Studiocanal and Aardman present in association with Anton Capital Entertainment An Aardman Production for Netflix), Calamity Jane (Maybe Movies), On-Gaku: Our Sound (Rock’n Roll Mountain, Tip Top), Ride Your Wave (Science SARU) and Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon/Melusine).

“What an odd year this has been! While animation has fared better than much of the entertainment industry, the situation around the pandemic has thrown all of us for a loop,” remarked Frank Gladstone, Annies executive producer. “We had no idea what to expect going into award season. To then see a year where we had more submissions than ever before was a huge and most welcome surprise. Though it might have initially seemed a little counter-intuitive, now we are approaching the Annies with optimism and the new year with a renewed sense of community.”

The Annie Awards cover 36 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Feature-Independent, Special Productions, Commercials, Short Subjects, Student Films and Outstanding Individual Achievements, as well as the honorary Juried Awards.

Nominations

#1 Best Feature

Onward
Pixar Animation Studios
Soul
Pixar Animation Studios
The Croods: A New Age
DreamWorks Animation
The Willoughbys
Netflix Presents A BRON Animation Production in association with Creative Wealth Media
Trolls World Tour
DreamWorks Animation

#2 Best Feature Independent

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Studiocanal and Aardman present in association with Anton Capital Entertainment An Aardman Production for Netflix
Calamity Jane
Maybe Movies
On-Gaku: Our Sound
Rock’n Roll Mountain, Tip Top
Ride Your Wave
Science SARU
Wolfwalkers
Cartoon Saloon / AppleTv / Gkids

#3 Best Special Production

Baba Yaga
Baobab Studios
Libresse / Bodyform – #WombStories
Chelsea Pictures
Nixie & Nimbo
Hornet
Shooom’s Odyssey
Picolo Pictures
The Snail and the Whale
Magic Light Pictures

#4 Best Short Subject

Filles Bleues, Peur Blanche
Miyu Productions
KKUM
open the portal
Souvenir Souvenir
Blast Production
The Places Where We Live (Cake)
FX Productions and FX
World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
Don Hertzfeldt

#5 Best Sponsored

Erste Group ‘Edgar’s Christmas’
Pasion Animation Studios
Max & Maxine
Hornet
The Last Mile
Nexus Studios
There’s a Monster in my Kitchen
Cartoon Saloon, Mother
Travel the Vote
Hornet

#6 Best TV/Media – Preschool

Buddi
Episode: Snow
Unanico Group
Muppet Babies
Episode: Wock-a-bye-Fozzie
Oddbot / Disney Junior
Stillwater
Episode: The Impossible Dream / Stuck in the Rain
Apple / Gaumont / Scholastic
The Adventures of Paddington
Episode: Paddington Digs a Tunnel to Peru
Blue-Zoo Animation Studio and Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: I am Madam President
Episode: I am Madam President
9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films

#7 Best TV/Media – Children

Hilda
Episode: Chapter 9: The Deerfox
Silvergate Media for Netflix
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Episode: Finale Part 4: Rise
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Episode: Heart Part 2
DreamWorks Animation
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Episode: Shattered
Lucasfilm Animation
Victor And Valentino Episode: The Lonely Haunts Club 3: La Llorona
Cartoon Network Studios

#8 Best TV/Media – General Audience

Close Enough Episode: Logan’s Run’d/Room Parents
Cartoon Network Studios
Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal
Episode: Coven Of The Damned
Cartoon Network Studios
Harley Quinn
Episode: Something Borrowed, Something Green
Eshugadee Productions in association with Warner Bros. Animation
Rick and Morty Episode: The Vat of Acid Episode
Rick and Morty LLC
The Midnight Gospel Episode: Mouse of Silver
Titmouse Animation for Netflix

#9 Best Student Film

100,000 Acres of Pine
Student director: Jennifer Alice Wright
School: The Animation Workshop
Coffin
Student director: Yuanqing Cai, Nathan Crabot, Houzhi Huang, Mikolaj Janiw, Mandimby Lebon, Théo Tran Ngoc
School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image
La Bestia
Student director: Marlijn Van Nuenen, Ram Tamez, Alfredo Gerard Kuttikatt
School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image
Latitude du printemps
Student director: Sylvain Cuvillier, Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Noémie Halberstam, Ma?lis Mosny, Zijing Ye
School: Rubika
O Black Hole!
Student director: Renee Zhan Student producer: Jesse Romain
School: National Film and Television School, UK

The rest of the individual nominees will be listed here this afternoon.

Juried Awards will also be presented during the ceremony, honoring unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation are being presented to three recipients – Willie Ito; Posthumously to Sue Nichols; and Bruce Smith. The June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation will be awarded to animator and art director, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi. The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Epic Games for its Unreal Engine; and The Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Howard, the documentary about lyricist and storyteller, the late Howard Ashman.

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 range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation, special events, classes and screenings.

Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades. For information regarding the Annie Awards™, please visit www.annieawards.org.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.