ASIFA has released their list of nominations for its February 6 Annual Annie Awards ceremony to be held in Los Angeles, CA.  Walt Disney Animation Studios leads the way by garnering 17 total nominations.

BURBANK, CA (December 1, 2009) – The International Animated Film
Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 37th Annual Annie
Awards recognizing the year’s best animated features, television productions,
commercials, short subjects and outstanding individual achievements in the field of
animation. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “The Princess and the Frog” received
eight nominations, including Best Animated Feature and individual nominations for
animated effects, character animation, production design and voice acting, while its
“Prep and Landing” received nine nominations including Best Animated Television
Production and individual nominations for character animation, character design, music,
production design, storyboarding and writing.

DreamWorks Animation received 11 nominations, including Best Animated
Television Production for “Merry Madagascar.” Laika received a total of 10 nominations
including Best Animated Feature “Coraline” and Pixar Animation Studios received a
total of nine nominations including Best Animated Feature “Up.” Completing the list of
Best Animated Features nominated are: “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” Sony
Pictures Animation, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” 20th Century Fox and “The Secret of Kells,”
Cartoon Saloon.

Nickelodeon leads the field in television with 12 nominations, including three
for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children: “SpongeBob
SquarePants,” “The Mighty B!,” and “The Penguins of Madagascar.” Completing
the nominations in this category are Disney Television’s “Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse” and Cartoon Network Studio’s “The Marvelous Misadventures of
Flapjack.” Nominees for the Best Animated Television Production are “Glenn
Martin, DDS,” Torante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications, “Merry
Madagascar,” DreamWorks Animation, “Prep and Landing,” ABC Family/Walt
Disney Animation Studios, and “The Simpsons,” Gracie Films.
Winners will be announced at the 37th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday,
February 6, 2010, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA. For a complete listing
of Annie Award nominations and event information, please go to
www.annieawards.org.

Special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional
contributions to animation will also be awarded: Winsor McCay award – Tim
Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg for career contributions to the art of
animation; June Foray award – Tom Sito for significant and benevolent or
charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; Ub Iwerks award –
William T. Reeves for the development of particle systems for computer
animation. This system has led to the ability to simulate such effects as fire,
explosions, smoke, moving water, sparks, falling leaves, clouds, fog, snow, dust,
meteor trails, hair, fur, grass and abstract visual effects such as glowing trails
and magic spells; Special Achievement Annie award – Martin Meunier and
Brian McLean for the development and use of the Rapid Prototyping (RP)
process for stop motion animation. Starting with hand crafted sculpts as a guide,
CG artists built the characters in the computer and animate key expressions. The
RP system then builds 3-dimentional objects that are finished by hand and
placed on the stop motion figures; and Certificate of Merit award – Myles
Mikulic, Danny Young, Michael Woodside for their service to the art, craft and
industry of animation.

“I congratulate all of the 2009 Annie Award nominees and award recipients for
their outstanding work,” said ASIFA-Hollywood President Antran Manoogian.
“This has been an unprecedented year for animation and I look forward to an
exciting ceremony in February.”

The Annie Awards’ black-tie ceremony will feature a lively mix of animation
luminaries, celebrity presenters and comedic talent to celebrate this year’s best
of the best. A pre-reception begins at 5:00 pm with the awards ceremony
following 7:00 pm. A post-show celebration immediately follows at UCLA’s
Royce Hall. More than 1,500 entertainment industry insiders are expected to
attend the annual Annie Awards.

ASIFA-Hollywood is the largest of an international network of chapters and
supports a range of animation initiatives through its membership. Current
projects include an animation archive, library and museum, classes and
screenings, and animated film preservation efforts.

The industry’s oldest and most prestigious award, The Annie Award is
considered an important industry benchmark and an annual predictor of the
Academy Award for best animated feature.

Source(s):
The Annie Awards (Official Site) via StitchKingdom