Awards

The Cartoon Brew 2016-17 Animation Award Winners Tracker

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With feature animation having its best-year ever at the global box office, it’s only fitting that there is more critical attention being paid to the form than ever before. And to help you navigate through all the awards, Cartoon Brew has created the following guide and spreadsheet to track end-of-year feature animation (and vfx) honors.

If anything stands out about the winners so far, it’s the tendency of film critics organizations to recognize American animation (Kubo and the Two Strings, Zootopia) over equally worthy foreign counterparts. It’s rather bizarre to see all of this year’s remarkable foreign features (My Life as a Zucchini, The Little Prince, The Red Turtle, Your Name) locked out of the awards game. The two notable critics groups that have defied convention so far are those based in Los Angeles and San Francisco; those groups each recognized a foreign animated feature as their top pick.

Another notable award this year comes from the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics, who recognized a motion capture performance. There is still much controversy about how motion capture should be recognized critically: should the performances be recognized alongside traditional acting or separated into a unique category as the D.C. critics have done? And when recognizing a mo-cap performance, should the actor receive sole credit or should the animators who helped craft the performance also receive recognition? Such questions will have to be answered as mo-cap animation performances become part of the annual awards cycle.

Below you’ll find a spreadsheet of all the winners, followed by a film-by-film breakdown.

Arrival
Best VFX – Florida Film Critics Circle
Best VFX (tie) – Hawaii Film Critics Society
Best VFX (tie) – Seattle Film Critics Society

Doctor Strange
Best VFX – Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle
Best VFX – Phoenix Film Critics Society
Best VFX – North Carolina Film Critics Association
Best VFX (tie) – Seattle Film Critics Society
Best VFX (tie) – Hawaii Film Critics Society
Best VFX (runner-up) – St. Louis Film Critics
Best VFX (runner-up) – Florida Film Critics Circle

Kubo and the Two Strings
Best Animated Feature – National Board of Review
Best Animated Feature – Atlanta Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – Boston Online Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – New York Film Critics Online
Best Animated Feature – San Diego Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Chicago Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – Phoenix Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Utah Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – Houston Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Indiana Film Journalists Association
Best Animated Feature – Florida Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Online Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Central Ohio Film Critics Association
Best Animated Feature – Iowa Film Critics Awards
Best Animated Feature – Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature (tie) – Hawaii Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Seattle Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Oklahoma Film Critics Circle

Moana
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Utah Film Critics
Best Hawaii Film – Hawaii Film Critics Society

My Life as a Zucchini
Best Animated Feature – European Film Awards

Sausage Party
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Indiana Film Journalists Association
Original Vision Award (runner-up) – Indiana Film Journalists Association

The Angry Birds Movie
Worst Movie of the Year (runner-up) – St. Louis Film Critics

The Jungle Book
Best Visual Effects – Critics’ Choice Awards
Best Visual Effects – San Diego Film Critics Society
Best Visual Effects – Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Best Visual Effects – St. Louis Film Critics

The Red Turtle
Best Animated Feature – San Francisco Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Los Angeles Film Critics

Tower
Best Animated Feature – Boston Society of Film Critics
Best Documentary – Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Texas Independent Film Award – Houston Film Critics Society

Your Name
Best Animated Feature – Los Angeles Film Critics

Zootopia
Best Animated Feature – New York Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Critics’ Choice Awards
Best Animated Feature – Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Animated Feature – Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – African American Film Critics Association
Best Animated Feature – St. Louis Film Critics
Best Animated Feature – Kansas City Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Alliance of Women Film Journalists EDA Awards
Best Animated Feature – Golden Globes
Best Animated Feature – Seattle Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Black Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature – Phoenix Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature – Georgia Film Critics Association
Best Animated Feature – North Carolina Film Critics Association
Best Animated Feature (tie) – Hawaii Film Critics Society
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Utah Film Critics
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Florida Film Critics Circle
Best Animated Feature (runner-up) – Central Ohio Film Critics Association
Top 10 Movie of the Year – AFI Awards

(Illustration in header: Chris McDonnell)

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