Mumbai: The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, has announced the nominations for its 36th Annual Annie Awards, recognizing the year’s best animated features, television productions, commercials, video games and short subjects. DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda leads the field with 17 nominations out of 27 overall for the studio, including Best Animated Feature, and individual nominations for character animation, character design, directing, music, production design, storyboarding, voice acting and writing.
Walt Disney Animation Studios and its Best Animated Feature Bolt received nine nominations and Pixar Animation Studios and its Best Animated Feature Wall-E received eight nominations. Completing the Best Animated Feature category is Sony Pictures Classics’ Waltz With Bashir and Sherman Pictures/Lama Films $9.99.
Nickelodeon leads the pack in television with 12 nominations, including two for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children: Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Mighty B! Other nominees in this category include: Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Underfist: Halloween Bash, Cartoon Network Studios and A Miser Brothers Christmas, Warner Bros. Animation.
Nominees for the Best Animated Television Production are Phineas and Ferb, Disney Television Animation; The Simpsons, Gracie Films/Fox TV; King of the Hill, 20th Century Fox TV; and Moral Orel and
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II, both from ShadowMachine.
Winners will be announced at the 36th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on 30 January, 2009, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA.
Special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation will also be awarded: Winsor McCay recipients –Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation; June Foray award — Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; and Certificate of Merit award — Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev.
"On behalf of ASIFA-Hollywood, I would like to congratulate all of the nominees and award recipients for their outstanding work and look forward to a very exciting ceremony in January," said ASIFA-Hollywood president Antran Manoogian.
