Aardman Animations to Be Honored by London Critics' Circle

The Oscar-winning stop-motion powerhouse was behind this year's 'Shaun the Sheep' sequel 'Farmageddon.'

Aardman, the British stop-motion animation powerhouse behind Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, is set to be honored at the next London Critics' Circle film awards.

Given in celebration of the awards' 40th anniversary, the award will be presented Jan. 30 at London's May Fair Hotel.

"The London critics are huge fans of Aardman's work," says Rich Cline, chair of the Critics' Circle film awards. "We have been speaking for years about giving them some sort of special recognition, and this year is perfect, with our 40th anniversary coinciding with Wallace and Gromit's 30th. Plus of course the huge success of this year's Shaun the Sheep adventure Farmageddon, which we loved beyond reason."

Added David Sproxton, who co-founded Aardman with Peter Lord in 1976: "It's wonderful to receive recognition from people who watch literally hundreds of films a year and earn their living writing about them. When a film is released, you are never sure what the reaction of the critics will be, so it's lovely to be acknowledged positively by them with this award."

Aardman, which landed a best animated feature Oscar for 2006's Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit and still holds the stop-motion animation box office record for 2000's Chicken Run, last year announced it was transferring ownership to its employees. Its most recent feature was the Shaun the Sheep sequel Farmageddon.

In addition to the special 40th anniversary award, the Critics' Circle will present British film icons Sally Potter and Sandy Powell with the Dilys Powell award for excellence in cinema.