Unlike 2018, which turned out to be the year of Spider-Verse, there is no clear feature frontrunner among the top nomination earners. Even Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering with You is in play with four nominations. Shinkai picked up nominations in key categories like writing and directing, in addition to best indie feature and fx animation.

Let’s rephrase that actually: there is a frontrunner if we’re talking strictly in terms of filmmaking quality, but it’s not a frontrunner in terms of who is going to win. For effectively using the medium of animation to tell a bold and original story, there’s really no contest between Jérémy Clapin’s I Lost My Body and everyone else. It’s not only the best animated film of the year, but one of the best of the decade. But we think it’s asking too much of ASIFA-Hollywood members, a highly industry-centric group, to reward a micro-budget French film over much glitzier Hollywood entries. So we’re back to where we started: there’s no clear front-runner.

Also, a couple of key omissions from the feature animation race: the cg animation remake of The Lion King and the Chinese feature Ne Zha. The Lion King is not only 100% animated, it’s the highest-grossing animated feature of all-time, yet Disney has taken a corporate stance that it’s not animated. Ne Zha, meanwhile, is the fourth-highest grossing animated feature globally this year. It may be that neither film entered the competition, but the Annie Awards have nominated films in the past that weren’t entered. It’s certainly bizarre to have two of the top four grossing animated films of the year missing from the competition entirely.

As strong a showing as Netflix made in the feature categories, it actually scored the majority of its nominations on the series side, with Love, Death & Robots leading all series with five nominations. Netflix did well with animation for younger kids — DHX Media’s Carmen Sandiego earned four nods and its Jibjab-produced series Ask the Storybots came in with three — but it really excelled in animation for teens and adults, with 13 noms for its mature series offerings. They could have had even more series nominations if Green Eggs and Ham had been properly recognized for its animation and production design. Curiously, the project received just one nomination — for editorial. Maybe it’ll be part of next year’s cycle?

With an overwhelming amount of content being produced for streaming nowadays, there are obviously going to be some worthwhile projects left out of the mix. Annie Award organizers reported a 20% increase in submissions this year, totalling over 1,900 entries. Still, there are a lot of headscratchers. For example, the exceptional adult animated series Undone, created by Tornante Company for Amazon Studios, received just a single nomination, and missed out on an obvious recognition in the directing category. Yet Disney’s long-running series of Mickey Mouse shorts yet again picked up a directing nod, one of three nominations it received.

Over the last five years, Disney’s Mickey Mouse series has received a total of 21 nominations. The shorts are perfectly fine for what they are, but they’re not 21 nominations-good, especially at the expense of a rapidly-maturing industry where studios are innovating and shattering boundaries. It may be time to re-establish criteria for how certain Annie categories are judged so that default series don’t wind up receiving nominations over more worthwhile newcomers.

One category that has improved in recent years is the shorts category, which nominated a 100% independent European slate. There’s usually at least one American film in the line-up, and there were some quality American shorts left off of the list, but the choices made are solid. They even threw in Thomas Renoldner’s zany experimental short Don’t Know What, which won the grand prize at Ottawa a few months ago, and Tomek Popakul’s Acid Rain, the top vote-getter in Cartoon Brew’s survey of industry experts. I don’t know who was on the selection committee for that category, but they should give themselves a pat on the back.

In addition to the competitive categories, juried awards will be presented to honor “unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation.” The Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement will be presented to Satoshi Kon (posthumously), Henry Selick, and the directorial team of Ron Clements and John Musker. The June Foray Award will be presented to Jeanette Bonds, the co-founder and director of the GLAS Animation Festival, while the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement will be given to cg pioneer Jim Blinn, who first became widely known for his work as a computer graphics expert at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Voting for this year’s Annie Awards will begin on January 1, 2020. The Annie Awards will take place on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

The complete list of nominees is below:

Best Feature

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Best Indie Feature

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

Sygnatia, Glow, Submarine, Hampa Animation Studio

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Okko’s Inn

Madhouse

Promare

Trigger, Xflag

Weathering With You

Toho Co., LTD. / Story Inc. / Comix Wave Films

Best Special Production

Guava Island, “Titles and Prologue”

Six Point Harness / Amazon

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming

Dreamworks Animation

Infinity Train, “The Perennial Child”

Cartoon Network Studios

Spongebob Squarepants, “SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout”

Nickelodeon and Jonas & Co.

Zog

Magic Light Pictures

Best Short Subject

Acid Rain

Tomek Popakul (Animoon)

Dont Know What

Thomas Renoldner

Je sors acheter des cigarettes

Osman Cerfon (Miyu Productions)

Purpleboy

Alexandre Siqueira (Bando à Parte, Rainbox Productions, Ambiances… asbl, Luna Blue Film)

Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days

Regina Pessoa (Ciclope Filmes, National Film Board of Canada, Les Armateurs)

Best VR

Bonfire

Baobab Studios

Gloomy Eyes

Atlas V

Kaiju Confidential

Shadowmachine

Best Commercial

Dove Self-Esteem Project x Steven Universe: “Social Media”

Cartoon Network/Dove/Chromosphere

Fortnite Season 7 Launch Spot

Epic Games/Screen Novelties/Iam8bit

The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s ’59 Telecaster

Nexus Studios

Best TV/Media – Preschool

Ask the Storybots

Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix

Elena of Avalor

Disney Television Animation

Let’s Go Luna!

Brown Bag Films/9 Story Media Group

Norman Picklestripes

Factory

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum

Brown Bag Films/9 Story Media Group

Best TV/Media – Children

Disney Mickey Mouse

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Niko and the Sword of Light

Titmouse, Amazon Studios

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Tales of Arcadia: 3Below

Dreamworks Animation

The Tom and Jerry Show

Warner Bros. Animation

Best TV/Media – General Audience

Big Mouth

Netflix

Bojack Horseman

Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Harley Quinn

Warner Bros. Animation

Tuca & Bertie

Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Undone

Tornante Company and Amazon Studios

Best Student Film

Con Fuerza

Savannah College of Art and Design

Gravedad

Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH Animationsinstitut

The Fox & The Pigeon

Sheridan College

Un diable dans la poche

Gobelins l’école de l’image

Best FX for TV/Media

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Manuel Reyes Halaby, Cristiana Covone, Koya Masubuchi, Jean Claude Nouchy, Dustin Henning

Love, Death & Robots

Blur for Netflix

Nominees: Viktor Németh, Szabolcs Illés, Ádám Sipos , Vladimir Zhovna

My Moon

Eusong Lee, Co-produced with Chromosphere

Nominees: Stéphane Coëdel, Natan Moura

Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures

Lucasfilm, Titmouse, Inc.

Nominees: Araiza Tokumasu Naoki

Tales of Arcadia: 3Below

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Greg Lev, Igor Lodeiro, Chen Ling, Brandon Tyra

Best FX for Feature

Abominable

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Amaury Aubel, James Jackson, Domin Lee, Michael Losure, Alex Timchenko

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Benjamin Fiske, Alex Moaveni, Jesse Erickson, Dimitre Berberov, Kee Nam Suong

Missing Link

Laura E Gross

Nominees: Eric Wachtman, David Horsley, Peter Stuart, Timu Khodzhaev, Joe Strasser

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Nominees: Alexis Angelidis, Amit Ganapati Baadkar, Greg Gladstone, Kylie Wijsmuller, Matthew Kiyoshi Wong

Weathering With You

GKIDS

Nominees: Hidetsugu Ito, Yuko Nakajima, Jumi Lee, Ryosuke Tsuda

Best Character Animation – TV/Media

Ask the Storybots

Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix

Nominees: Chris O’Hara

Disney Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Juliane Martin

His Dark Materials

BBC Studios

Nominees: Aulo Licinio

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Andrew Muir

Robot Chicken

Stoopid Buddy Stoodios

Nominees: Scott DaRos

Best Character Animation – Animated Feature

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Andrew Ford

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Dane Stogner

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Rani Naamani

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Sergio Martins

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Rachelle Lambden

Best Character Animation – Live Action

Alita: Battle Angel

Weta Digital

Nominees: Michael Cozens

Avengers: Endgame

Weta Digital

Nominees: Sidney Kombo-Kintombo

Game of Thrones – Season 8 Episode 3 “The Long Night” – Dance of the Dragons

Image Engine

Nominees: Jason Snyman, Sheik Ghafoor, Maia Neubig, Michael Siegel, Cheri Fojtik

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

Framestore

Nominees: Dale Newton, Waiyin Mendoza, Rochelle Flynn, Leila Gaed, Paul Jones

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Steven Argula

Nominees: Joakim Riedinger

Best Character Animation – Video Game

Gears 5

Cinematic AnimationThe Coalition/ Microsoft

Nominees: Brian Whitmire

Kingdom Hearts III

Square Enix

Nominees: Munenori Shinagawa, Kayoko Yajima, Koji Hamada, Koji Inoue

Sinclair Snake: Museum Mischief

Chromosphere / Within

Nominees: Tommy Rodricks, Natan Moura, Nelson Boles

Unruly Heroes

Magic Design Studios

Nominees: Sebastien Parodi, Nicolas Leger

Best Character Design – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix

Nominees: Keiko Murayama

DC Super Hero Girls

Warner Bros. Animation

Nominees: Lauren Faust

T.O.T.S.

Titmouse/Disney Junior

Nominees: John Jagusak

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Chris Mitchell

Victor and Valentino

Cartoon Network Studios

Nominees: Fabien Mense

Best Character Design – Feature

Abominable

Dreamworks Animation/Pearl Studio

Nominees: Nico Marlet

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Bill Schwab

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Torsten Schrank

Spies in Disguise

Blue Sky Studios

Nominees: José Manuel Fernández Oli

The Addams Family

MGM and Bron Creative

Nominees: Craig Kellman

Best Direction – TV/Media

Ask the Storybots

Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix

Nominees: Jeff Gill

DC Super Hero Girls

Warner Bros. Animation

Nominees: Natalie Wetzig

Disney Mickey Mouse

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Alonso Ramirez Ramos

Rilakkuma & Kaoru

Dwarf for Netflix

Nominees: Masahito Kobayashi

Ultraman

Production IG, SOLA Digital Arts for Netflix

Nominees: Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki

Best Direction – Feature

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Nominees: Jérémy Clapin

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Sergio Pablos

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Chris Butler

Weathering With You

Toho Co., Ltd./ Story Inc. /Comix Wave Films

Nominees: Makoto Shinkai

Best Music – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix

Nominees: Jared Lee Gosselin, Steve D’Angelo, Lorenzo Castelli

Love, Death & Robots

Blur for Netflix

Nominees: Rob Cairns

Seis Manos

Viz Media/Powerhouse Animation Studios

Nominees: Carl Thiel

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Sunna Wehrmeijer

The Tom and Jerry Show

Warner Bros. Animation

Nominees: Vivek Maddala

Best Music – Feature

Away

Dream Well Studios

Nominees: Gints Zilbalodis

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Christophe Beck, Frode Fjellheim, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Nominees: Dan Levy

Spies in Disguise

Blue Sky Studios

Nominees: Mark Ronson, Theodore Shapiro

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Nominees: Randy Newman

Best Production Design – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix

Nominees: Eastwood Wong, Sylvia Liu, Elaine Lee, Linda Fong, Emily Paik

Disney Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Alan Bodner, Brian Woods, Steven Nicodemus, Laura Price, Leonard Robledo

Love, Death & Robots

Blur for Netflix

Nominees: Alberto Mielgo

Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart

Cartoon Network, Titmouse, Inc.

Nominees: Khang Le, Chris Fisher, Gael Bertrand, Deodato Pangandoyon, Howard Chen

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Chris Mitchell, Chris Turnham, Tor Aunet, DanBob Thompson, Aaron Spurgeon

Best Production Design – Feature

Abominable

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Max Boas, Paul Duncan, Christopher Brock, Cecline Da Hyeu Kim, Jane Li

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Pierre-Olivier Vincent, Kirsten Kawamura, Woonyoung Jung, Iuri Lioi

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Szymon Biernaki, Marcin Jakubowski

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Nelson Lowry, Santiago Montiel, Trevor Dalmer

The Addams Family

MGM and Bron Creative

Nominees: Patricia Atchison, Maisha Moore, Chris Souza, Jack Yu

Best Storyboarding – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix

Nominees: Kenny Park

Carole & Tuesday

Bones for Netflix

Nominees: Shinichiro Watanabe

Love, Death & Robots

Blur for Netflix

Nominees: Owen Sullivan

Snoopy in Space

Apple

Nominees: Riccardo Durante

Zog

Magic Light Pictures

Nominees: Max Lang

Best Storyboarding – Feature

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Nominees: Julien Bisaro

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Nominees: Jérémy Clapin

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Sergio Pablos

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Julián Nariño

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Oliver Thomas

Best Voice Acting – TV/Media

Big City Greens

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Marieve Herington

Bob’s Burgers

20th Century Fox/Bento Box Entertainment

Nominees: H. Jon Benjamin

Steven Universe

Cartoon Network Studios

Nominees: Sarah Stiles

Tigtone

Titmouse, Inc., Babyhemyth Productions, Williams Street

Nominees: Debi Derryberry

Tuca & Bertie

Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Nominees: Ali Wong

Best Voice Acting – Feature

Abominable

Dreamworks Animation/Pearl Studio

Nominees: Tenzing Norgay Trainor

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Josh Gad

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

CJ Entertainment and Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Netflix

Nominees: Richard Horvitz

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Illumination

Nominees: Jenny Slate

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Nominees: Tony Hale

Best Writing – TV/Media

Apple & Onion

Cartoon Network Studios

Nominees: George Gendi, Michael Gendi, Deepak Sethi, Eric Acosta, Sean Szeles

Bojack Horseman

Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Nominees: Alison Tafel

Pinky Malinky

Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Netflix

Nominees: Sheela Shrinivas, Aminder Dhaliwal, Rikke Asbjoern

Tuca & Bertie

Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Nominees: Shauna McGarry

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum

Brown Bag Film/9 Story Media Group

Nominees: Meghan Read

Best Writing – Feature

Frozen 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nominees: Jennifer Lee

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: Dean DeBlois

I Lost My Body

Xilam for Netflix

Nominees: Jérémy Clapin, Guillaume Laurant

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Nominees: Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom

Weathering With You

Toho Co., Ltd./ Story Inc./Comix Wave Films

Nominees: Makoto Shinkai

Best Editorial – TV/Media

Big Hero 6: The Series

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Dao Le, Joe Molinari, Charles T. Jones, David Vasquez

DC Super Hero Girls

Warner Bros. Animation

Nominees: Torien Blackwolf

Disney Mickey Mouse

Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Nominees: Tony Molina

Green Eggs and Ham

Warner Bros. Animation for Netflix

Nominees: Margaret Hou

Love, Death & Robots

Blur for Netflix

Nominees: Bo Juhl, Stacy Auckland, Valerian Zamel

Best Editorial – Feature

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Dreamworks Animation

Nominees: John K. Carr, Mark Hester, Mary Blee

Klaus

Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Nominees: Pablo García Revert

Missing Link

Laika, LLC

Nominees: Stephen Perkins

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Illumination

Nominees: Tiffany Hillkurtz

Toy Story 4

Pixar Animation Studios

Nominees: Axel Geddes, Torbin Xan Bullock, Greg Snyder