Winsor McCay Winners Announced

Winsor McCay Award Recipients Announced: Career Achievement and Animation's Highest Honor

BURBANK, Calif. (November 10, 2009) The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the Winsor McCay Award recipients for 2009: Tim Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg (see bios below). Award recipients will claim their trophies at the 37th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Saturday, February 6, 2010 at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Named in honor of animator Winsor McCay, best known as a prolific artist and pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation, the Winsor McCay Award stands as one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation. "ASIFA-Hollywood will proudly present Tim Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg each with a Winsor McCay Award," said ASIFA-Hollywood President Antran Manoogian. "The career achievements and outstanding contributions of these talented artisans are most worthy of animation's highest honor."

The Winsor McCay Award may be awarded to a maximum of three individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, professional teaching, or for other endeavors which exhibit outstanding contributions to excellence in animation.

Tim Burton, though mainly known for his innovative live action features, has had a strong influence on the world of animation. Burton began his career as an animator (Tron, Fox And the Hound) at the Walt Disney Studios where made his first independent shorts, Vincent (in stop motion animation) and Frankenweenie (live action). He went on to co-produce Family Dog (1987), an animated pilot for Steven Spielberg, which became a prime time series for CBS in 1993. His stop-motion Halloween feature, Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, directed by Henry Selick) has become a worldwide cult classic. His interest in animation led him to co-produce the stop-mo feature James and The Giant Peach (1996) and this year's CG production, 9. Most recently Burton co-directed the stop-motion Corpse Bride (2005) and his internet animation series, The World of Stainboy (2000). Burton is currently remaking Frankenweenie as a full length animated feature.

Bruce Timm forever changed the world of TV adventure cartoons with his visual take on DC Comics super heroes, beginning with his co-producing Batman: the Animated Series in 1992. Timm began his career in animation at Filmation, doing layouts on He-Man and Flash Gordon. He did storyboards for Ralph Bakshi (on Mighty Mouse: the New Adventures) and John Kricfalusi (Beany & Cecil). While working on Tiny Toon Adventures, he teamed with Eric Rodamski to pitch a new take on Batman. The success of that series has led Timm to redesign the entire DC Comics universe in various Warner Bros. Animation series as Superman, Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited. He has drawn several graphic novels and comics stories for DC Comics and is currently producing a series of direct-to video animated features for Warner Home Video.

Jeffrey Katzenberg is the CEO of Dreamworks Animation. Katzenberg was responsible for reviving the fortunes of Walt Disney Feature Animation with his supervision of The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and The Beast and The Lion King. Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 to team with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to create Dreamworks SKG, where, as head of the animation studio, he oversaw the production of hand drawn animated features The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado and Spirit. Switching to CG production, the studio produced a string of hits including Shrek (and its sequels), Madagascar (and its spin-offs), Kung Fu Panda, Antz, Bee Movie and Shark Tale.

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.

For up-to-the-minute information on the 37th Annual Annie Awards, please visit http://www.annieawards.org or email Gretchen@annieawards.org or call: 562.209.9900. Media inquiries, please contact Gretchen Houser, Houser PR, at 562.235.0991 or email:  Gretchen@houserpr.com.
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2008 Winsor McCay Award Winners Announced

This just in from the San Diego Comic-Con... At a private party for Annie Award recipients and nominees, the winners of the 2008 Winsor McCay Awards were announced. In attendance were past Annie honorees Ralph Bakshi, Bill Plympton, Antran Manoogian, and Stephen Worth.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (July 26, 2008) The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced its 2008 Winsor McCay Award recipients during a private reception Friday, July 25, at the Gaslamp Marriott during the annual Comic Con Convention in San Diego, California. This year's Winsor McCay recipients are: Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park (see bios below). Award recipients will claim their trophies at the 36th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2009, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Named in honor of animator Winsor McCay, best known as a prolific artist and pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation, the Winsor McCay Award stands as one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation.

"ASIFA-Hollywood is proud to present Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park each with a Winsor McCay Award," said Antran Manoogian, president of ASIFA-Hollywood. "Their career achievements and outstanding contributions to the art of animation are certainly worthy of being recognized with this honor."

The 2008 Winsor McCay Award Recipients are:


Mike Judge is the acclaimed creator of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head and Fox's King Of The Hill. Judge started his career as an independent animator creating several short films, including Office Space with Milton and Frog Baseball, animating them on his kitchen table. Judge provides the voices for his main characters (Beavis, Butt-head and Hank Hill) and has directed a feature length version of Beavis and Butt-head, as well as several critically acclaimed live action films. His third animated series, The Goode Family, will air next year on ABC.

John Lasseter is a pioneering computer animation director and currently the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation. Lasseter, a Cal Arts graduate, began his career in hand drawn character animation at Disney in 1975. He joined Pixar when it was still an experimental unit of Lucasfilm in 1984. He added a cartoonist's vision to the world of computer graphics, combining strong storytelling with classic character animation. After winning an Academy Award for his short, Tin Toy, he led Pixar to commercial and critical success with such feature films as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Cars.

Nick Park is the British clay animator who charmed the world with his Academy Award winning short, Creature Comforts, and hilarious characters Wallace and Gromit. He started his first film, A Grand Day Out, while still a student at the National Film and Television School. He joined Aardman Animation in 1985 and went on to complete three Wallace and Gromit shorts and co-directed two feature films, Chicken Ru and the Academy Award winning Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. His fourth Wallace and Gromit short, A Matter of Loaf and Death, will be released later this year.

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