The Annie Award was conceived by American voice actress June Foray in 1972. Her husband Hobart Donavan suggested the name “Annie” to indicate that the awards are given for excellence in animation. For two decades, the Annies were presented for individual lifetime or career contributions to animation. Max and Dave Fleischer were the first to receive the award for inventing the technique of rotoscoping, and for creating the characters Popeye, Olive Oyl and Betty Boop.
During the early 1990s, a number of categories were introduced to recognize the achievement of animation as a whole rather than individual accomplishments. As of 2016, there are nine production categories including Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Special Production, Best Animated Short Subject, Best Animated TV Commercial, Best Animated TV Production for Preschool Children, Best Animated TV Production for Children, Best General Audience Animated TV production, Best Animated Feature-Independent, Best Student Film. Besides, there are individual achievement categories and special awards.
The winners are chosen by selected professional members of ASIFA-Hollywood. Joining the association is open to professionals, students and fans of animation, but only professionals are permitted to vote for the Annie Award.
Since the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2002, the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is considered an indicator of success at the Oscars. However, not all films that have received an Annie Award have also won a corresponding Academy Award. By the way, when DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda took all the Annie Awards, defeating the eventual Academy Award-winner WALL-E, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation Jeffrey Katzenberg was even accused of buying ASIFA-Hollywood memberships for his entire studio and telling them to vote for Kung Fu Panda.
The annual award ceremony is typically held in February at Royce Hall, a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Between 1998 and 2007 the Annie Awards was held at the Alex Theater in Glendale, California.
In 2022, the event was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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