Los Angeles, Calif. – Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, hosted the 38th Annual Annie Awards on February 5 at UCLA's Royce Hall.
DreamWorks Animation's How To Train Your Dragon won top honors as the Best Animated Feature. Best Animated Short Subject was presented to Pixar's “Day & Night”; Best Animated Television Commercial to Duck Studios “Children's Medical Center”; Nickelodeon's
SpongeBob SquarePants was honored as Best Animated Television Production for Children, and Playdead's
Limbo won Best Animated Video Game.
A new category, Character Animation in a Live Action Production, was presented to Sony Pictures' Alice in Wonderland. The Annie Awards ceremony will also be Web cast on the Annies Web site later this month.
Host Tom Kenny was joined on stage by a lively mix of animation luminaries, celebrity presenters, and comedic talent including animation legend June Foray, Matt Groening, James Hong, Danica McKellar, Kevin Michael Richardson, Mike Henry, Candi Milo, Bob Bergen, Jay Baruchel, Guillermo Del Toro, Bill Plympton, Billy West, Nika Futterman, Brian Regan, Corey Burton, Jeremy Shada, Olivia Olson, Jim Cummings, John DiMaggio, and Eric Goldberg.
The Winsor McCay award was presented to three animation industry leaders: Brad Bird, Eric Goldberg, and Matt Groening. Brad Bird is currently filming in Vancouver and accepted his Winsor via a videotaped message.
"ASIFA-Hollywood congratulates all of its Annie Award winners," says ASIFA-Hollywood president Antran Manoogian. "The recognition that each award recipient received was certainly well-deserved."
Often a predictor of the annual Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Annie Awards honor overall excellence, as well as individual achievement in a total of 25 categories, ranging from best feature, production design, character animation, and effects animation to storyboarding, video games, writing, music, and voice acting.
Entries submitted for consideration were from productions that originally aired, were exhibited in an animation festival, or were commercially released between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010.
38th Annual Annie Award Award Recipients
Production Categories
Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon - DreamWorks Animation
Best Animated Short Subject
Day Night - Pixar
Best Animated Television Commercial
Children's Medical Center - DUCK Studios
Best Animated Television Production
Kung Fu Panda Holiday - DreamWorks Animation
Best Animated Television Production for Children
SpongeBob SquarePants - Nickelodeon
Best Animated Video Game
Limbo - Playdead
Individual Achievement Categories
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Brett Miller "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Television Production
David Pate "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" - DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Feature Production
Gabe Hordos "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Ryan Page - Alice in Wonderland - Sony Pictures
Character Design in a Television Production
Ernie Gilbert "T.U.F.F. Puppy" - Nickelodeon
Character Design in a Feature Production
Nico Marlet "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Directing in a Television Production
Tim Johnson "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" - DreamWorks Animation
Directing in a Feature Production
Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Music in a Television Production
Jeremy Wakefield, Sage Guyton, Nick Carr, Tuck Tucker "SpongeBob SquarePants" - Nickelodeon
Music in a Feature Production
John Powell "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Production Design in a Television Production
Richie Sacilioc "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" - DreamWorks Animation
Production Design in a Feature Production
Pierre Olivier Vincent "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Storyboarding in a Television Production
Fred Gonzales "T.U.F.F. Puppy" - Nickelodeon
Storyboarding in a Feature Production
Tom Owens "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Voice Acting in a Television Production
James Hong as Mr. Ping "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" - DreamWorks Animation
Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Jay Baruchel as Hiccup "How To Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Writing in a Television Production
Geoff Johns, Matthew Beans, Zeb Wells, Hugh Sterbakov, Matthew Senreich, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, Mike Fasolo, Douglas Goldstein, Tom Root, Dan Milano, Kevin Shinick Hugh Davidson "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III" - ShadowMachine
Writing in a Feature Production
William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders "How to Train Your Dragon" - DreamWorks Animation
Juried Awards
Winsor McCay Award - Brad Bird, Eric Goldberg, Matt Groening
June Foray Award - Ross Iwamoto
Ub Iwerks Award - Autodesk
Special Achievement - "Waking Sleeping Beauty"