Annie Award
Awarded for	Excellence in film animation
Presented by	ASIFA-Hollywood
Country	United States
First awarded	1972
Official website	http://annieawards.org

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The Annie Award is an American award for accomplishments in animation. The Annies have been presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972. Originally designed to celebrate lifetime or career contributions to animation in the fields of producing, directing, animation, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, etc., in 1992 it began to honor animation as a whole, and created the category of Best Animated Feature.

Memberships in the ASIFA-Hollywood consist of three main categories: General Member, Patron and Student Member. Joining ASIFA-Hollywood is open to professionals, students and fans of animation, for a membership fee. All members of ASIFA-Hollywood may vote for the winners.^[1]

The 39th Annie Awards ceremony took place on February 4, 2012, on the campus of UCLA.

Award categories[link]

Production[link]

• Best Animated Feature
• Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
• Best Animated Short Subject
• Best Animated Television Commercial
• Best Animated Television Production
• Best Animated Video Game

Individual achievement[link]

• Animated Effects
• Character Animation in a Feature Production
• Character Animation in a Television Production
• Character Design in a Feature Production
• Character Design in a Television Production
• Directing in a Feature Production
• Directing in a Television Production
• Music in a Feature Production
• Music in a Television Production
• Production Design in a Feature Production
• Production Design in a Television Production
• Storyboarding in a Feature Production
• Storyboarding in a Television Production
• Voice Acting in a Feature Production
• Voice Acting in a Television Production
• Writing in a Feature Production
• Writing in a Television Production

Juried awards[link]

• June Foray Award
• Ub Iwerks Award
• Winsor McCay Award
• Special Achievement in Animation
• Certificates of Merit

Balloting controversies and criticism[link]

2008[link]

In 2008, the Annie Award nominees for "Best Short Subject" included two Walt Disney cartoons, a Pixar short, and two independent films: Picnic Pictures' The Chestnut Tree, and Don Hertzfeldt's short, Everything Will Be OK. Official rules for the Annie Awards state that voting members must view all nominated achievements in their entirety before casting their ballot for a winner. Members are directed to view the nominated films on a secure website.

When the online ballot launched on January 15, the two independent films were not included for voters to judge. ASIFA acknowledged this error over a week later, at which point all the votes were reportedly thrown out and the balloting system was reset. Voters were instructed to return and re-vote the category. "The Chestnut Tree" was now uploaded properly to the ballot, however Everything Will Be OK was again not included: this time, the online ballot only played a portion of this film's 17-minute running time to voters, abruptly cutting out in the middle of a scene. ASIFA again took several days to repair the ballot, but this time allowed voting to continue.

By the time the ballot officially closed on February 1, Everything Will Be OK was only available to voters for less than 24 hours of the entire 18-day voting period.^[2]

Even though ASIFA apologized to Don Hertzfeldt, they took no further action and carried on with the event, awarding the prize to the Pixar short Your Friend the Rat.

2009[link]

In 2009, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda swept the Annie Awards in an overwhelming defeat against the eventual Oscar-winner WALL-E, which was shut out in every category. In an Oscar prediction article, New York Times writer David Carr noted, "Oscar watchers were stunned when Kung Fu Panda took all the awards from the International Animated Film Society. That was an inside job, full of backstage politics you don’t want to know about."^[3] Animator Bill Plympton (himself a recipient of ASIFA's lifetime achievement award), also criticized the organization's balloting practices, writing in his blog, "I think that Jeffrey Katzenberg, who knows a good publicity opportunity when he sees it, bought ASIFA-Hollywood memberships for his entire studio, and then told them to vote the party line... The unfortunate reality is that it feels like the elections were rigged - they were bought! What a travesty." ^[4]

2010[link]

In 2010, Walt Disney Studios decided to cease submissions and support for ASIFA-Hollywood's Annie Awards. At issue was the fact that anyone could buy a membership (and voting ballot) to ASIFA, whereas members of the Motion Picture Academy and other awards-giving bodies must be voted in only by their peers. Disney also believed the scales are tilted in favor of DreamWorks Animation, who gives each new employee a free membership to ASIFA-Hollywood.^[5]

Due to Disney's complaints, ASIFA-Hollywood changed the rules on voting for individual achievement categories, making those categories only available to professionals. ASIFA-Hollywood head Antran Manoogian said that this was just a first step to a future move where Annie voters would have to be approved by a committee and non-professionals would now be ineligible to vote.^[5]

That was not enough for Disney president Ed Catmull, who had called for an advisory committee of toon execs representing each studio to recommend rule changes to the ASIFA board. Catmull said, "We believe there is an issue with the way the Annies are judged, and have been seeking a mutually agreeable solution with the board. Although some initial steps have been taken, the board informed us that no further changes would be made to address our concerns." ^[5]

Notable nominations[link]

• Animated features that earned the most nominations:

1. 16: The Incredibles (2004)
2. 16: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
3. 16: Kung Fu Panda (2008)
4. 16: How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
5. 13: Ratatouille (2007)
6. 12: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
7. 12: Finding Nemo (2003)
8. 10: Coraline (2009)
9. 10: Mulan (1998)

See also[link]

• List of Annie Awards ceremonies

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site of the Annie Awards

Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and composer. He is also a founding member and co-owner of StarKid Productions, a media and musical theater production company based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for portraying Blaine Anderson, an openly gay high school student, on the FOX television series Glee.

Criss first garnered attention playing the lead role of Harry Potter in StarKid's musical productions of A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. In January 2012, he made his Broadway debut, starring as J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Early life and education[link]

Criss was born in San Francisco, California, the youngest son of Cerina (née Bru) and Charles William Criss, a banker and a former director of the San Francisco Opera, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Stern Grove Festival, and San Francisco Performances. Criss is Eurasian – his mother, a native of Cebu, Philippines, is of Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino descent, while his father, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is of Irish descent. He has an older brother named Charles "Chuck" Criss (born April 15, 1985), a musician and member of the indie rock band Freelance Whales. Criss and his brother were raised in San Francisco, apart from 1988 to 1992, when the family relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, and their father started the East West Bank, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.^[1][2][3][4]

Criss' interest in music and the performing arts started in his early childhood — at the age of five, he began taking violin lessons, and, at ten, he was accepted into the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater; concurrently, he made his professional stage debut, performing at the musical theater company 42nd Street Moon. Criss later became a multi-instrumentalist, mastering the violin, guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, harmonica, and drums, and he began composing songs by the age of fifteen.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Criss completed his elementary education at Stuart Hall for Boys, and then later graduated from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory in 2005; both are private Catholic schools located in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his time at Saint Ignatius, he was a member of various clubs, including the school government and the performing arts program, for which he was awarded the "Theater Arts Leadership" and the "Fine Arts" awards. Criss was also active in the school music scene - he was a violinist in the school orchestra (where he held the position of concertmaster), fronted his own band, and was voted "most likely to win a Grammy" by his peers. Academically, he received the National Latin Exam Award in 2002 (Maxima Cum Laude) and 2003 (Magna Cum Laude).^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Criss majored in Theater Performance at the University of Michigan (he additionally pursued minors in Musicology and Italian, until opting out prior to graduation), and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009.^[20][13] 

Acting career[link]

For a list of acting credits by Criss, click here.

Theater[link]

Criss' Broadway debut How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Criss made his professional stage debut at the age of ten in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny, in the role of Cesario. The next year, Criss played Mauro in the Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim musical Do I Hear a Waltz?, followed by Babes in Arms in 1999, in which he played Beauregard Calhoun.^[21][22][23]

Criss spent his formative years at the American Conservatory Theater, studying theater performance and appearing in a number of plays, notably A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Voysey Inheritance. He continued to hone his craft at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, taking on roles in classics such as The Music Man, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Fiddler on the Roof.^[7][24]

From 2005 to 2009, while attending the University of Michigan, Criss took part in numerous stage productions, including Pride and Prejudice, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, A Few Good Men, and The Cripple of Inishmaan. He was also a participant in Basement Arts, the university's student-run theater organization, as both an actor and director. In the spring of 2008, he spent a semester abroad in Arezzo, Italy, studying Commedia dell'arte, among other theater-related subjects, at the Accademia dell'Arte.^{[24][25][26][27]}

In 2009, after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts, Criss, along with his friends and fellow classmates from the University of Michigan, founded StarKid Productions, a media and musical theater production company. His most prominent acting role with StarKid is that of Harry Potter in the YouTube viral musicals A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. Both productions are musical-comedies based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. StarKid's plays have been viewed more than 100 million times on the company's YouTube channel, since its launch on June 19, 2009.^[28][29][30]

In January 2012, Criss made his Broadway debut, replacing Daniel Radcliffe in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, for a three-week engagement at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. His stint proved to be a success – aside from Daniel Radcliffe's final week, the musical had the three most lucrative weeks of its 11-month run with Criss in the lead role, grossing over four million dollars.^[31][32]

Television[link]

Criss as Blaine Anderson with The Dalton Academy Warblers

Criss portrays Blaine Anderson, an openly gay high school student, on the FOX television show Glee. He made his first appearance in season two in the episode "Never Been Kissed", which aired on November 9, 2010. Blaine attended Dalton Academy and was lead singer of its glee club, The Dalton Academy Warblers. Blaine initially served as a friend and mentor for Kurt Hummel, the bullied gay member of the Warblers' rival glee club, New Directions. Chemistry between the two characters, combined with fan support for the potential couple, led series co-creator Ryan Murphy to pair them romantically onscreen. At the beginning of the third season, Blaine transfers to McKinley High and joins New Directions; concurrently, Criss was promoted from recurring guest star to the show's main cast.^[33][34][35]

Discussing public response to his character, Criss stated that he particularly enjoyed comments from "people from parts of the world who are maybe not as exposed to certain ideologies", but had reconsidered their stance on relationships and human rights as a result of the Blaine and Kurt storyline. He called this response "phenomenal", and said: "I was a straight kid growing up in a very gay community and it's something that I've had to watch so many friends have to struggle with and have no place to go to identify in kind of a grander media culture. To be a small piece of that machine is incredibly wonderful."^[36]

The character of Blaine Anderson was voted No. 1 on AfterElton's list of Top 50 Favorite TV Characters (2012).^[37]

Criss' early television career includes roles on the television series Eastwick and Cold Case.^[38]

Films[link]

In August 2011, Criss made his feature film debut in Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

In 2012, Criss will appear in the upcoming comedy Imogene. The film co-stars Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, and Matt Dillon.^[39]

Internet[link]

In 2007, Criss made his online debut playing the role of Toby Phillips in the web series Little White Lie. It was released in 2009 by StarKid Productions.^[40]

Criss voices the character of Leopold Bonar from the Funny or Die web series Life of Leopold.^[41]

Music career[link]

For a list of select musical performances by Criss, click here.

Solo artist[link]

Criss began his solo music career playing in bars and cafes while he was a student at the University of Michigan. After the success of StarKid Productions, and then later finding fame with his breakthrough role on Glee, Criss quickly gained popularity and eventually began headlining notable venues such as Irving Plaza, The Roxy, The Hollywood Palladium, The Troubadour, and Lincoln Center. His repertoire consists of standards from the American Songbook and contemporary songs, as well as his own compositions. Being an avid Disney fan, he often includes songs from one of his musical idols, Alan Menken.^[42][43][44]

Criss continues to collaborate and perform with fellow University of Michigan alumnus, singer-songwriter Charlene Kaye. He duetted with Kaye on her songs "Skin and Bones" and "Dress and Tie", and is featured in her music videos for "Skin and Bones", "Magnolia Wine", and "Dress and Tie".^[45]

On July 20, 2010, Criss released an independently-produced EP called Human on iTunes. It debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart and has reached the iTunes Top 20 Alternative chart.^[46][47][48]

On December 10, 2010, Criss became the 400,000th member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).^[49]

In April 2011, Criss signed with Sony Music Entertainment. He will be recording a full-length studio album, though no release date has been set.^[50]

StarKid Productions[link]

Criss is credited as one of the primary songwriters and composers, along with A.J. Holmes and Carlos Valdes, for StarKid Productions. He has contributed songs to A Very Potter Musical (2009), Me and My Dick (2009), and Little White Lie (2009). Subsequently, Criss solely composed all the songs and music for A Very Potter Sequel (2010), its companion album A Very StarKid Album (2010), and Starship (2011).^[29]

On January 6, 2010, the soundtrack to Me and My Dick was released through iTunes. The album became the first-ever student-produced college musical to reach the Billboard charts, coming in at No. 11 on the Top Cast Albums chart.^[51]

On July 22, 2010, A Very StarKid Album was released digitally through iTunes and Amazon.com. The album reached No. 14 on the iTunes Pop Albums chart and No. 27 out of all Top Albums, officially topping Lady Gaga (No. 29) and Glee (No. 31) on the charts. The album also reached No. 19 on Billboard Top Compilations chart.^[48][47]

On April 29, 2011, the Starship album was released. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Cast Albums chart and No. 134 on the Billboard 200 chart, and reached No. 2 on iTunes Soundtracks chart and No. 4 on iTunes Top Albums chart.^[52]

Over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011, Criss participated in StarKid's first national concert tour, The SPACE Tour, in the New York and Boston shows.^[53]

On March 13, 2012, The SPACE Tour album was released. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Cast Albums chart, and reached No. 4 on iTunes Pop Albums chart and No. 17 on iTunes Top Albums chart.^[54]

[edit] Glee

Criss has contributed to the Glee soundtrack as lead singer of the The Dalton Academy Warblers and as a member of William McKinley High's New Directions. The Warblers are an all-male a cappella choir group whose backing vocals and arrangements are done by Tufts University's Beelzebubs.

Criss' first song on Glee, "Teenage Dream", hit No. 1 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart and the iTunes song chart, selling 214,000 singles in its first week, outselling the original version in its first week of digital sales. It was the first time a Glee cast track had reached the top spot, and is the show's fastest selling track to date. On July 13, 2011, the song was certified gold for selling over 500,000 copies.^[55][56][57]

Due to the chart success of singles by Criss and the Warblers in season 2, the album Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers was released on April 19, 2011. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and reached No. 2 on the iTunes Albums chart.^[58]

From May 21 to July 3, 2011, Criss and the cast of Glee performed in Glee Live! In Concert!, touring the U.S.A., Canada, England, and Ireland. According to Billboard Magazine, it was the 16th most successful concert tour of 2011, grossing more than $40 million, with total attendance topping 485,000. All 40 dates sold out, including shows at Staples Center, Nassau Coliseum, and The O2 Arenas in London and Dublin.^[59][42]

Advocacy and charity work[link]

Criss is a supporter of the LGBT community and its causes. In December 2010, and again in 2011, he performed at 'Trevor Live', an event held in support of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Criss is the recipient of Variety's Power of Youth Philanthropy award for his contributions to The Trevor Project.^{[60][61][62][63][64]}

Criss is a spokesperson for the Rock the Vote organization and its Democracy Day campaign. On March 23, 2011, he helped launch Democracy Class, a "national high school civics program...that uses pop culture, video, a classroom discussion and a mock election to teach young people the skills to navigate the elections process and engage as active citizens".^[65][66]

Criss recorded the Bob Dylan song "New Morning", featuring his brother Chuck Criss, for Amnesty International. It was part of the compilation album Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, released on January 24, 2012.^[67]

Criss was chosen by UNICEF Philippines to represent their organization and accept a $25,000 donation from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the disaster relief of Tropical Storm Washi, on March 8, 2012.^[68]

Criss is the spokesperson for the Festival of New American Musicals. The organization's mission is "to foster the creators, to train and showcase the performers and in the process also to help build the next generation of musical theater audience and support." It's honorary co-chairs are Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Jerry Herman, Angela Lansbury, and Jason Alexander.^[69]

Criss has performed at charity benefits for the American Conservatory Theater, AIDS Project Los Angeles, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Toys for Tots, City of Hope National Medical Center, Motion Picture & Television Fund, Public School Arts, MusiCares Foundation, The Old Vic, UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.^[70]

Media appearances[link]

Criss has been a guest on various television shows, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show,^[71] Live with Regis and Kelly,^[72] The Glee Project,^[73] Access Hollywood,^[74] MTV,^[75] and The Today Show.^[76]

Criss has appeared on the magazine covers of Billboard, Out, Playbill, TV Guide, Da Man, Prestige, and Entertainment Weekly.^[77] He has also been featured in People,^[78] InStyle,^[79] Interview,^[80] Vogue,^[81] Teen Vogue,^[82] GQ,^[83] Rolling Stone,^[84] Variety,^[85] The Hollywood Reporter,^[86] Details,^[87] The Chicago Tribune,^[88] and The New York Times,^[89] among others.

Criss is featured in the fall ad campaign (2011) for Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing line.^[90]

Criss was named one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive, and was ranked No. 1 on AfterElton's "Hot 100" list (2011).^[91][92]

Criss ranked No. 1 on GQ Magazine's "30 Under 30: The Most Stylish Young Men In Hollywood" list (2012).^[93]

Professional credits[link]

Musical performances[link]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]