The 52nd Annie Awards, the animation industry’s premiere celebration of the craft presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, were held on Saturday evening at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The Population Appeard was on-site to cover the exciting event, which featured winners in 32 competition categories, spanning feature films, television, event programming, shorts, VFX, games, and more.

Major Winners of the Night

The Wild Robot, DreamWorks Animation’s critically acclaimed feature, dominated the night, securing nine awards, the most possible, given that two of its 10 nominations were in the same voice acting category. The film, also an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature, won:

Best Feature

-Direction (Chris Sanders)

-Character Animation

-Character Design

-Production Design

-Voice Acting (Lupita Nyong’o as ROZ)

Flow

an independent Latvian film distributed by Sideshow and Janus Films, took home Best Feature – Independent as well as Best Writing, rewarding director Gintz Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza.

Netflix saw a triumphant return for Arcane (Riot / Fortiche), which swept its categories by winning all seven of its nominations. The series, based on the popular League of Legends video game, had previously won nine Annies in its debut year.

Other multiple award winners included:

-Orion and the Dark (Netflix/DreamWorks) – Best Special Production, Best Writing for TV/Media

-Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Disney Channel) – Best TV for Children, Character Design – TV/Media

-Dream Productions (Pixar/Disney+) – Best Limited Series, Voice Acting – TV/Media (Paula Pell)

-Wander to Wonder – Best Short (Oscar-nominated)

-Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Character Animation in a Live-Action Film

Special Awards & Memorable Moments

The Juried Awards recognized industry leaders and organizations:

-Winsor McCay Award: Aaron Blaise, Eunice Macaulay, Normand Roger

-June Foray Award: Women in Animation

-Ub Iwerks Award: Alberto Menache

-Special Achievement Award: Directing at Disney: The Original Directors of Walt’s Animated Films

A surprising twist

in the evening came when a fire alarm interrupted the show at 8:45 p.m., causing the livestream to drop and attendees to evacuate Royce Hall for 15 minutes. The organizers later confirmed that the alarm was a safety emergency.

Additionally, ASIFA-Hollywood’s executive director Aubry Mintz announced the launch of AnimAID, a fundraiser for L.A. wildfire relief, with an initial goal of $225,000. The campaign will continue with an animation art auction in partnership with Sotheby’s, aiming to raise $5 million. By the end of the night, over $107,000 had already been raised.

With an evening full of excitement, celebration, and unexpected moments, the 52nd Annie Awards solidified its role as one of the most significant nights in the animation industry. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage from The Population Appeard.