‘Frozen’ Takes Top Prize at Annie Awards

“Frozen” has iced another honor, winning the top prize Saturday, Feb. 1, at the 41st Annie Awards.

The musical toon scooped up five of Disney’s 10 Annies, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, which hosts Hollywood’s biggest night for the animation industry. Mouse House stablemate Pixar took home five trophies itself for work done on the film “Monsters University,” which nabbed two awards, and three for the ABC special “Toy Story of TERROR!”

‘Frozen’ Takes Top Prize at Annie Awards

Legendary animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was honored with an Annie for writing “The Wind Rises,” which the auteur says is his last film.

DreamWorks Animation notched the next highest tally of awards with three for “The Croods” in character animation (Jakob Jensen), character design (Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi and Shane Prigmore) and animated effects (Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores and Jason Mayer).

“Frozen,” which opened wide on Nov. 27, has been on a roll, tallying more than $800 million so far at the worldwide box office, and it won the Golden Globe for animated feature on Jan. 12. In addition to Saturday’s best animated feature Annie, “Frozen” picked up kudos for feature directing for co-helmers Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (who also wrote the script), voice actor Josh Gad as Olaf the snowman, music by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez and Christophe Beck, and production design by Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene and David Womersley.

Top television kudos went to Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time,” which was named best TV/broadcast production for children. Tom Kenny won the TV voice acting Annie for his portrayal of the Ice King in the series. “Futurama” from 20th Century Fox nabbed the award for best general audience TV/broadcast production, and “Disney Sofia the First” took the top award from TV/broadcast production for pre-school children.

“Get a Horse,” Disney’s blending of classic characters and state of the art 3D animation techniques, took the prize for animated short. Universal’s “Despicable Me 2″ ad for Cinemark featuring the Minions won for TV/broadcast commercial. Best student film honors went to Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Viola Baier for her marzipan marital concoction “Wedding Cake.”

The much buzzed about “Chipotle Scarecrow,” from the restaurant chain’s creative department and Moonbot Studios, won for best animated special production.

Rounding out the winners in the production categories is “The Last of Us,” the survival themed videogame by Naughty Dog for PlayStation 3.

The night also featured  special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation for celebrated filmmaker Steven Spielberg, manga artist and director Katsuhiro Otomo and visual effects maven Phil Tippett (Winsor McCay Award), costume designer Alice Davis (June Foray Award), creators of stop-motion software Dragronframe (Ub Iwerks) and the docu “I Know That Voice” (Certificate of Merit). A special achievement award went to the Creative Talent Network (CTN) Animation Expo.

A complete list of winners follows:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature
Frozen – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Animated Special Production
Chipotle Scarecrow
- Chipotle Creative Department, 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 – Viola Baier, Iris Frisch

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 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
Hayao Miyazaki – The Wind Rises
- Studio Ghibli/Touchstone Pictures/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 – Alice Davis

Ub Iwerks – Dragonframe

Special Achievement – Creative Talent Network (CTN) Animation eXpo

Certificate of Merit – “I Know That Voice” (Documentary)

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