Awards Bits: 40th Annual Annie Nominations, and New For Your Consideration Ads

Awards season is soon to be upon us, as such, ASIFA-Hollywood have unveiled the nominations for the 40th Annual Annie Awards. After the Pixar shut-out a couple of years ago, it seems things are back to normal this year, with Pixar/Pixarians getting a total of 10 nominations this year. That said, this year seems to be a very evenly distributed year, with DreamWorks getting a colossal 26 nominations (bear in mind they did release two features and a few TV specials this year).

It's going to be particularly close in the running for Best Animated Feature, where the nominees consist of:

• Brave – Pixar Animation Studios
• Frankenweenie – The Walt Disney Studios
• Hotel Transylvania – Sony Pictures Animation
• ParaNorman – Focus Features
• Rise of the Guardians – DreamWorks Animation
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits [The Pirates! In an Adventures with Scientists] – Aardman Animations
• The Rabbi’s Cat – GKIDS
• Wreck-It Ralph – Walt Disney Animation Studios

It's nice to see The Pirates! get a nod, but I'd expect to see ParaNorman, Ralph or Guardians win it. In terms of short films, one has to believe Disney's lauded Paperman stands a pretty good shot of winning. The nominees for Best Animated Short Subject are:

• Brad and Gary – Illumination Entertainment
• Bydlo – National Film Board of Canada
• Eyes on the Stars – StoryCorps
• Goodnight Mr. Foot – Sony Pictures Animation
• Kali the Little Vampire – National Film Board of Canada
• Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’ – Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox TV
• Paperman – Walt Disney Animation Studios
• The Simpsons – ‘Bill Plympton Couch Gag’ – Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox TV

Check out the full list of Annie nominees here. The winners will be announced on 2nd February, 2013 at the UCLA Royce Hall in LA.

The Annies are the most prestigious animation awards, but there's a whole host of awards animated films can qualify for. So, with a view towards BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, a new batch of For Your Consideration ads have surfaced via Awards Daily. Check out the first wave of FYC ads here, and the second lot below.

I really like the Brave ones, they're simple but effective; the ParaNorman and Rise of the Guardians ads too are great - very clever. Noteworthy is that DreamWorks aren't playing up Madagascar 3 as a potential Best Picture contender as they did in its last batch, and that Sony are trying to sell Hotel Transylvania on being "Genndy Tartakovsky's theatrical directorial debut".

It's gonna be a close one!