The 2012 Annie Awards were held last night, and critical favorite Rango ended up deservedly taking home the Best Animated Feature award. Gore Verbinski’s quirky western also took home the award for Best Writing in a Feature Production, Best Editing, and the Members Favorite Award, but lost Best Directing to Kung Fu Panda 2’s Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Bill Nighy won Best Voice Acting for Arthur Christmas, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes took home the Character Animation in a Live Action Feature Production award.
On the television side of things, The Simpsons was awarded the top prize as well as Best Directing and Best Writing. Heading into the Academy Awards, Rango is our clear frontrunner. The Adventures of Tintin was pegged as the film’s biggest competition at the Oscar ceremony, but the Steven Spielberg film was ultimately left out of the nominations. Hit the jump to see the full list of Annie Awards Winners.
Animated Feature
Rango – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/GK Films Production
Directing in a Television Production
Matthew Nastuk “The Simpsons” – Gracie Films
Directing in a Feature Production
Jennifer Yuh Nelson “Kung Fu Panda 2” – DreamWorks Animation
General Audience Animated TV Production
The Simpsons – Gracie Films
Voice Acting in a Television Production
Jeff Bennett as Kowalski “Penguins of Madagascar” – Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation
Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Bill Nighy as Grandsanta “Arthur Christmas” – Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations
Writing in a Television Production
Carolyn Omine “The Simpsons -Treehouse of Horror XXII” – Gracie Films
Writing in a Feature Production
John Logan, Gore Verbinski and James Byrkit “Rango” – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/GK Films Productions
Editing in Television Production
Ted Machold, Jeff Adams, Doug Tiano, Bob Tomlin “Penguins of Madagascar” – Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation
Editing in a Feature Production
Craig Wood, A.C.E. “Rango” – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/GK Films Production
Animated Television Production – Preschool
Disney Jake and the Never Land Pirates – Disney Television Animation
Animated Television Production – Children
The Amazing World of Gumball – Cartoon Network in Association with Dandelion Studios, Boulder Media & Studio Soi
Animated Special Production
Kung Fu Panda – Secrets of the Masters – DreamWorks Animation
Animated Short Subject
Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
Animated Television Commercial
Twinings “Sea” – Psyop
Animated Video Game
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet – Shadow Planet Productions, Gagne/Fuelcell
Music in a Television Production
Grace Potter, Michael Giacchino “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music in a Feature Production
John Williams “Tintin” – Amblin Entertainment, Wingnut Films and Kennedy/Marshall
Production Design in a Television Production
Mark Bodnar, Chris Tsirgiotis, Sue Mondt and Daniel Elson “Secret Mountain Fort Awesome” – Cartoon Network Studios
Production Design in a Feature Production
Raymond Zibach “Kung Fu Panda 2” – DreamWorks Animation
Storyboarding in a Television Production
Barry W. Johnson “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboarding in a Feature Production
Jeremy Spears “Winnie The Pooh” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Kevin Romond “Tintin” – Amblin Entertainment, Wingnut Films and Kennedy/Marshall
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Florent Andorra “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” – Industrial Light & Magic
Character Animation in a Television Production
Chad Sellers “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Character Animation in a Feature Production
Jeff Gabor “Rio” – Blue Sky Studios
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Eric Reynolds “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” – 20th Century Fox
Character Design in a Television Production
Bill Schwab “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Character Design in a Feature Production
Mark “Crash” McCreery “Rango” – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/GK Films Production
Members Favorite Award
Rango
June Foray Award
Art Leonardi
Winsor McCay Award
Walt Peregoy
Ronald Searle
Børge Ring
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Oh that’s interesting! I thought the Annie Awards were the “Best DreamWorks movies made by DreamWorks because DreamWorks is awesome” Awards, at least that’s how it’s been the last few years with DreamWorks buying up all the votes.
Perhaps the Annie Awards are worth paying attention to again?
How is that any different from The Oscars, though? Where Pixar always takes the award home regardless of how lackluster their film was after all the initial hype died down (see bore-fest Wall-E, with its great animation but incredibly generic plot).
I’m digusted of the annie awards now. There is obviously favoritism. How did Sam Witwer loose the Best voice acting in an animated television production? His work on Darth Maul in the Clone Wars was amazing! And how come the clone wars never wins anything? In the last three year, the show got thirteen nominations, and never got anything! Why do the penguins of madagascar keep winning? That show’s animation isn’t half as good as the clone wars’. The voice acting isn’t any better, and the Clone Wars has much better plots. So what does the penguins have that the clone wars don’t? Well, the fact that they belong to Dreamworks and Nickelodeon, who obviously influenc the vote.