'Monsters University' & 'Toy Story of Terror' Earn Annie Nominations [UPDATE: Winners Announced]

It’s that time of the year again. The International Animated Film Society has just announced the nominees for the 41st annual Annie Awards – the first of many award shows to come. Monsters University and Disney’s Frozen led the pack with ten nominations; both are contenders for Best Animated Feature alongside A Letter to Momo, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine, The Croods, and The Wind Rises. Monsters U also received nominations in the following categories:

• Animated Effects in an Animated Production (Joshua Jenny, Jason Johnston, Matthew Wong, Eric Froemling, Enrique Vila)
• Character Animation in a Feature Production (John Chun Chiu Lee)
• Character Design in an Animated Feature Production (Chris Sasaki)
• Music in an Animated Feature Production (Randy Newman)
• Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (Ricky Nierva, Robert Kondo, Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi)
• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production (Dean Kelly)
• Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Billy Crystal as Mike)
• Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon)
• Editorial in an Animated Feature Production (Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom)

Toy Story of Terror also garnered quite a bit of attention, earning seven nominations among five categories:

• Best Animated Special Production
• Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production (3 individual nominations: JC Tran Quang Thieu, David DeVan, and Kureha Yokoo)
• Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Angus MacLane)
• Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Daniel Chong)
• Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Axel Geddes, Kathy Graves, Chloe Kloezeman)

For a complete list of nominees, head over to the Annie Awards website. Check back on February 1, 2014 for the winners.

UPDATE: The winners have been revealed. Pixarians took home a total of five awards; three for Toy Story of Terror and two for Monsters University. Those were:

• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production (Dean Kelly, Monsters University)
• Editorial in an Animated Feature Production (Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom, Monsters University)
• Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production (Kureha Yokoo, Toy Story of Terror)
• Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Angus MacLane, Toy Story of Terror)
• Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Daniel Chong, Toy Story of Terror)

Congratulations to all of the winners!