Pixar Animation Studios was the big winner at this year’s 45th Annie Awards™ as Coco won Best Animated Feature, and garnered top honors across 11 categories including: Best Animated Effects; Character Animation; Character Design; Directing; Music; Production Design; Storyboarding; Writing; and Editorial.

Earning Annie distinction as the Best Independent Animated Feature was The Breadwinner (Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/ Melusine Productions).

The evening was dedicated to the late June Foray, the legendary voice actress who was, more than anyone else, responsible for launching the Annies 45 years ago. Foray’s creativity, generosity and unrelenting advocacy for the animation community were evident in the touching presentation. 

Frank Gladstone, Annie Awards executive producer, recalled that Foray “always delighted in seeing how the event she founded continued to grow year after year. This year was no exception. June would have enjoyed the increasing numbers, but more important to her, and to us, has always been seeing the proof, inherent in the Annies, that the capability of people, worldwide, to create animated films has also continued to diversify and increase.” 

All four Winsor McCay recipients were in attendance at the Annie proceedings. The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation were presented to three recipients: British character animator, James Baxter; SpongeBob SquarePants creator, Stephen Hillenburg,  and the Canadian animation duo, Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis. 

The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation was presented to TVPaint for its versatile software for 2D animation.                                                      

The Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation was presented to Studio MDHR Entertainment for its 1930s inspired wonder-game Cuphead; and the June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation was presented to animation historian, Didier Ghez. The Certificate of Merit award was presented to David Nimitz, devoted friend and caretaker of Foray who passed away last July at the age of 99.

45th Annie Award Production & Achievement Award Recipients

Best Animated Feature
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios 

Best Animated Feature-Independent
THE BREADWINNER 
Cartoon Saloon / Aircraft Pictures / Melusine Productions 

Best Animated Special Production
REVOLTING RHYMES 
Magic Light Pictures

Best Animated Short Subject
DEAR BASKETBALL 
Glen Keane Productions, Kobe Studios, Believe Entertainment Group

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial
JUNE 
Broad Reach Pictures/Chromosphere/Lyft 

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children
OCTONAUTS 
Episode: Operation Deep Freeze
Vampire Squid Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media company, in association with Brown Bag Films 

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children
WE BARE BEARS 
Episode: Panda’s Art
Cartoon Network Animation Studios 

Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production
RICK AND MORTY 
Episode: 303 - “Pickle Rick”
Williams Street Productions

Best Student Film
POLES APART 
Paloma Baeza 

Animated Effects in an Animated Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios
Shaun Galinak, Dave Hale, Jason Johnston, Carl Kaphan, Keith Daniel Klohn 

Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
TROLLHUNTERS 
Episode: 205 - “Homecoming”
DreamWorks Animation Television 
Bruno Chiou, Yi-Fan Cho, Kevin Jong , Chun-Jung Chu 

Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
COCO (#12-6709)
Pixar Animation Studios
John Chun Chiu Lee 

Character Animation in a Live Action Production
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES 
Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, River Road Entertainment, 20th Century Fox
Daniel Barrett, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Emile Ghorayeb, Luisma Lavin Peredo, Alessandro Bonora 

Character Animation in a Video Game
CUPHEAD ( #14-8031)
StudioMDHR
Hanna Abi-Hanna 

Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK 
Episode: XCVI
Adult Swim
Craig Kellman

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios 
Daniel Arriaga, Daniela Strijleva, Greg Dykstra, Alonso Martinez, Zaruhi Galstyan

Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE 
Episode: The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!
Walt Disney Television Animation
Dave Wasson, Eddie Trigueros, Alonso Ramirez-Ramo

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios 
Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina

Music in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE 
Episode: The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!
Walt Disney Television Animation 
Christopher Willis

Music in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios
Michael Giacchino, Kristin Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina

Production Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK 
Episode: XCIII
Adult Swim 
Scott Wills

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studio
Harley Jessup, Danielle Feinberg, Bryn Imagire, Nathaniel McLaughlin, Ernesto Nemesio

Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE 
Episode: Bee Inspired
Walt Disney Television Animation
Eddie Trigueros

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
COCO (#24-6718)
Pixar Animation Studios
Dean Kelly

Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 
Nickelodeon 
Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios 
Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel

Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
RICK AND MORTY 
Episode: 307 - “The Ricklantis Mixup”
Williams Street Productions 
Ryan Ridley, Dan Guterman

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios 
Adrian Molina, Matthew Aldrich

Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production
SAMURAI JACK 
Episode: XCIII, XCIV, XCIX
Adult Swim
Paul Douglas

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
COCO 
Pixar Animation Studios
Steve Bloom, Lee Unkrich, Greg Snyder, Tim Fox