Where the Oscars can be unbearably pretentious and the Golden Globes racist, The Annie Awards will always bring a positive light to awards season. Honoring the past year’s animated achievements, a number of studio and independent films have been recognized. The nomination categories range from film to television, feature-length to short-form, adult to children programming. In a completely virtual ceremony, featured presenters for tonight include Josh Gad, Matthew Rhys, Phillipa Soo, and many more.
And the Annie Awards goes to…
BEST FEATURE
- Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
BEST INDIE FEATURE
- Wolfwalkers
- Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
- The Snail and the Whale
- Magic Light Pictures
BEST SHORT SUBJECT
- Souvenir Souvenir
- Blast Production
BEST SPONSORED
- There’s a Monster in my Kitchen
- Cartoon Saloon, Mother
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
- The Adventures of Paddington
- Episode: Paddington Digs a Tunnel to Peru
- Blue-Zoo Animation Studio and Nickelodeon Animation Studio
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
- Hilda
- Episode: Chapter 9: The Deerfox
- Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks
BEST TV/MEDIA – GENERAL AUDIENCE
- Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal
- Episode: Coven Of The Damned
- Cartoon Network Studios
BEST STUDENT FILM
- La Bestia
- School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image
- Student directors: Marlijn Van Nuenen, Ram Tamez, Alfredo Gerard Kuttikatt
BEST FX FOR TV/MEDIA
- Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous
- Episode: Welcome to Jurassic World
- Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
- FX Production Company: Dreamworks Animation and CGCG Inc.
- Emad Khalili, Ivan Wang, Chris Wombold, Kyle Goertz, Kathy D. Tran
BEST FX FOR FEATURE
- Soul
- Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios
- FX Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios
- Tolga Göktekin, Carl Kaphan, Hiroaki Narita, Enrique Vila, Kylie Wijsmuller
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA
- Hilda
- Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks David Laliberté
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
- Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Michal Makarewicz
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION The Mandalorian
- Production Company: Lucasfilm
- FX Production Company: Image Engine
- Nathan Fitzgerald, Leo Ito, Chris Rogers, Eung Ho Lo, Emily Luk
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Insomniac Games
- Brian Wyser, Michael Yosh, Danny Garnett, David Hancock
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
- Amphibia
- Episode: The Shut-In!
- Disney TV Animation
- Joe Sparrow
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
- Wolfwalkers
- Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS Federico Pirovano
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
- Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal
- Episode: Plague Of Madness
- Cartoon Network Studios
- Genndy Tartakovsky
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
- Wolfwalkers
- Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Episode: Victory and Death
- Lucasfilm Animation
- Kevin Kiner
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE
- Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA – Shooom’s Odyssey
- Picolo Pictures
- Julien Bisaro
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE – Wolfwalkers
- Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS María Pareja, Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA – Looney Tunes Cartoons
- Episode: Big League Beast / Firehouse Frenzy Warner Bros. Animation
- Andrew Dickman
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Trevor Jimenez
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
- Tales of Arcadia: Wizards
- Episode: Our Final Act
- DreamWorks Animation
- David Bradley (Merlin)
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
- Wolfwalkers
- Cartoon Saloon/Melusine Productions for Apple/GKIDS
- Eva Whittaker (Mebh Óg MacTíre)
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA
- Big Mouth
- Episode: The New Me
- Netflix
- Andrew Goldberg, Patti Harrison
BEST WRITING – FEATURE
- Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
- Hilda
- Episode: Chapter 9: The Deerfox
- Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc., and Mercury Filmworks John McKinnon
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE
- Soul
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Kevin Nolting, Gregory Amundson, Robert Grahamjones, Amera Rizk
Disney takes the top prize as Best Feature for Pixar’s Soul, along with 7 accompanying awards like Best Writing and Best FX. The Best Indie Feature wen to Wolfwalkers. The acclaimed indie also scored itself 5 other wins in categories like Best Voice Acting and Best Direction. This year’s honorary awards were given to many who’ve led an extensive career in the world of animation. The June Foray award was given to Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi. The Ub Iwerks Award was presented to Epic Games’ Unreal engine. And the 2020 documentary “Howard” was awarded the Special Achievement award.
Many of this year’s contenders faced the challenge of working during a global pandemic. This ceremony was in honor of all who persevered through hardship and restriction.
For more film, gaming, anime, and tv news, trailers, and updates make sure to keep it locked right here at The Nerdy Basement. And while you’re here, please consider supporting us on Patreon. It’s an easy way of supporting us so we can keep proving you with your Nerdy News!