‘Frozen’ Named Top Animated Film at Annie Awards

Disney dominates as ceremony spreads the wealth among many of the year’s animated films

“Frozen” was named the Best Animated Feature of 2013 at the Annie Awards, the top awards show devoted strictly to animation.

The film won in a field of seven nominees that included all five Oscar nominees in the Best Animated Feature category, and also took awards for directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, voice actor Josh Gad and its production design and music.

As usual in the aftermath of an overhaul of the voting process three years ago, Annies voters from the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood spread the wealth. In addition to Disney’s “Frozen,” other films winning multiple awards included DreamWorks Animation’s “The Croods” (animated effects, character design and character animation) and Pixar’s “Monsters University” (storyboarding and editorial).  Studio Ghibli’s “The Wind Rises” won for Hayao Miyazaki’s screenplay.

The films “Pacific Rim” and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” won for animated effects in live-action films.

“Futurama” won the award for top general-audience TV show, while “Disney Sofia the First” and “Adventure Time” won for pre-school and children’s audiences.

Other TV productions taking home multiple awards included “Toy Story OF TERROR!,” with three awards including director, and “Disney Mickey Mouse,” which also won three.

The Oscar-nominated Mickey Mouse short “Get a Horse!” won the award for short film, while “The Last of Us” was named the year’s best video game a couple of hours after it won a similar award from the Writers Guild.

Overall, the night was a very good one for Disney: The studio won 11 awards between Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation, while the Disney-owned Pixar won another five. DreamWorks Animation won three, while 20th Century Fox Television and the Cartoon Network each won two.

Honorary awards were presented to Steven Spielberg, Katsuhiro Otomo and Phil Tippett.

The ceremony took place at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

The winners:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature: “Frozen” – 
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated Special Production: “Chipotle Scarecrow”
 – Moonbot Studios
Best Animated Short Subject: “Get A Horse!”
 – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial: “Despicable Me 2” – Cinemark
 – Universal Pictures
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children: “Disney Sofia the First
” – Disney Television Animation
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children’s Audience: “Adventure Time” – 
Cartoon Network Studios
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Futurama”
 – 20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Video Game: “The Last of Us” – 
Naughty Dog
Best Student Film: “Wedding Cake” – 
Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects in an Animated Production: Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, Jason Mayer – “The Croods” – 
DreamWorks Animation
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel – “Pacific Rim”
 – Industrial Light & Magic
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production: Kureha Yokoo – “Toy Story OF TERROR!” – Pixar Animation Studios Character
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production: Jakob Jensen – “The Croods” – 
DreamWorks Animation
Character Animation in a Live Action Production: Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Gollum
 – Weta Digital
Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Paul Rudish – “Disney Mickey Mouse”
 – Disney Television Animation
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, Shane Prigmore – “The Croods”
 – DreamWorks Animation
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Angus MacLane – “Toy Story OF TERROR!”
 – Pixar Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – “Frozen”
 – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Christopher Willis – “Disney Mickey Mouse”
 – Disney Television Animation
Music in an Animated Feature Production: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck – “Frozen”
 – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Angela Sung, William Niu, Christine Bian, Emily Tetri, Frederic Stewart – “The Legend of Korra”
 – Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene, David Womersley – “Frozen”
 – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Daniel Chong – “Toy Story of TERROR!” – Pixar Animation Studios
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Dean Kelly – “Monsters University”
 – Pixar Animation Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Tom Kenny as the voice of Ice King – “Adventure Time” – 
Cartoon Network Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Josh Gad as the voice of Olaf – “Frozen”
 – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Lewis Morton – “Futurama”
 – 20th Century Fox Television
Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Miyazaki Hayao – “The Wind Rises” 
- The Walt Disney Studios
Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: Illya Owens – “Disney Mickey Mouse” – 
Disney Television Animation
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom – “Monsters University”
 – Pixar Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award – Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg & Phil Tippett
June Foray Award – Alice Davis
Certificate of Merit – “I Know That Voice” (Documentary)

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