2012 Awards -- Annie Award nominations

In the race for the year's best animated film, one of the biggest precursor awards is the Annie (Animated Film Society) awards. They have announced their nominees for this year, and while in the past their "Best Feature" category seemed to narrow down the possible nods for the Oscars, this year, it almost seems as it they awarded EVERYTHING! 8 Nominees for Best Animated Feature??? Really??? Ok then. Well, regardless, the expected nods happened for many of the big releases this year. Should be a semi-interesting race for a nomination this year.

 BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Hotel Transylvania
• ParaNorman
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits
• The Rabbi's Cat
• Rise of the Guardians
• Wreck-It Ralph

ANIMATED EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave -- BIll Watral, Chris Chapman, Dave Hale, Keith Klohn & Michael K. O'Brien
• Ice Age: Continental Drift -- Andrew Schneider
• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted -- Jihyun Yoon
• ParaNorman -- Andrew Nawrot, Joe Gorski & Grant Laker
• Rise of the Guardians -- Andy Hayes, Carl Hooper & David Lipton
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Joel Aron
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Brett Albert

ANIMATED EFFECTS IN A LIVE ACTION PRODUCTION

• The Amazing Spider-Man -- Stephen Marshall, Joseph Pepper & Dustin Wicke
• The Avengers -- Jerome Platteaux, John Sigurdson, Ryan Hopkins, Raul Essig & Mark Chataway
• Battleship -- Willi Geiger, Rick Hankins, Florent Andorra, Florian Witzel & Aron Bonar
• John Carter -- Sue Rowe, Simon Stanley-Clamp, Artemis Oikonomopoulou, Holger Voss, Nikki Makar & Catherine Elvidge

CHARACTER ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave -- Travis Hathaway
• Brave -- Jaime Landes
• Brave -- Dan Nguyen
• ParaNorman -- Travis Knight
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits -- Will Becher
• Rise of the Guardians -- Phillppe LeBrun
• Rise of the Guardians -- David Pate
• Rise of the Guardians -- Pierre Perifel

CHARACTER ANIMATED IN A LIVE ACTION PRODUCTION

• The Amazing Spider-Man -- Mike Beaulieu, Roger Vizard, Atushi Sato, Jackie Kochler, Derek Esparza, Richard Smith & Mac Tyrie
• The Avengers -- Jakub Pistecky, Maia Kayser, Scott Benzu, Steve King & Kiran Bhat
• Life of Pi -- Orangutan -- Erik de Boer, Amanda Dague, Matt Brown, Mary Lynn Machado & Aaron Grey
• Life of Pi -- Tiger -- Erik de Boer, Matt Shumway, Brian Wells, Vinayak Pawar & Michael Holzl

CHARACTER DESIGN IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Dr. Seuss' The Lorax -- Yarrow Cheney, Eric Guillon & Colin Stimpson
• Hotel Transylvania -- Carter Goodrich
• Hotel Transylvania -- Carlos Grangel
• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted -- Craig Kellman
• ParaNorman -- Heidi Smith
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Bill Schwab, Lorelay Bove, Cory Loftis & Minkyu Lee

DIRECTING OF AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Remi Bezancon & Jean-Christophe Lie -- "Zarafa"
• Sam Fell & Chris Butler -- "ParaNorman"
• Rick Moore -- "Wreck-It Ralph"
• Johan Sfar & Antoine Delesvaux -- "The Rabbi's Cat"
• Genndy Tartakovsky -- "Hotel Transylvania"

EDITING OF AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave -- Nicholas A. Smith, ACE, Robert Graham Jones, ACE & David Suther
• Hotel Transylvania -- Catherine Apple
• Rise of the Guardians -- Joyce Arrastia
• Secret of the Wings -- Mark Rosenbaum
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Tim Mertens

MUSIC IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Adventures in Zambezia -- Bruce Retief
• Brave -- Patrick Doyle, Mark Andrews & Alex Mandel
• Dr. Seuss' The Lorax -- John Powell & Cinco Paul
• Hotel Transylvania -- Mark Mothersbaugh
• Ice Age: Continental Drift -- John Powell, Adam Schlesinger & Ester Dean
• Rise of the Guardians -- Alexandre Desplat
• Secret of the Wings -- Joel McNeely, Brendan Milburn & Valerie Vigoda
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Henry Jackman

PRODUCTION DESIGN OF AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave -- Steve Pilcher
• Frankenweenie -- Rick Heintzich
• Hotel Transylvania -- Marcello Vignali
• Ice Age: Continental Drift -- Nash Dunnigan, Arden Chen, Jon Townley & Kyle McNaughton
• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted -- Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin, Shannon Jeffries, Lindsey Olivares & Kenard Pak
• ParaNorman -- Nelson Lowry, Ross Stewart, Pete Oswald, Ean McNamara & Trevor Dalmer
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits -- Norman Garwood & Matt Berry
• Rise of the Guardians -- Patrick Hanenberger, Max Boas, Jayee Borcar, Woonyoung Jung, Perry Maple, Peter Maynez, Stan Seo & Felix Yoon

STORYBOARDING OF AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted -- Rob Koo
• ParaNorman -- Emmanuela Cozzi
• Rise of the Guardians -- Johanne Matte
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Leo Matsuda
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Lissa Treiman

VOICE ACTING IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Jim Cummings -- Budzo -- "Adventures in Zambezia"
• Jude Law -- Pitch -- "Rise of the Guardians"
• Kelly MacDonald -- Merida -- "Brave"
• Catherine O'Hara -- Weird Girl -- "Frankenweenie"
• Adam Sandler -- Dracula -- "Hotel Transylvania"
• Atticus Shaffer -- "E"Gore -- "Frankenweenie"
• Imelda Staunton -- Queen Victoria -- "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"
• Alan Tudyk -- King Candy -- "Wreck-It Ralph"

WRITING OF AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Brave -- Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman & Irene Mecchi
• Frankenweenie -- John August
• From Up on Poppy Hill -- Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa & Karey Kirkpatrick
• ParaNorman -- Chris Butler
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits -- Gideon Defoe
• Wreck-It Ralph -- Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee