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Emmy Awards 2017 Winners: ‘Samurai Jack’ Leads Animation Projects With 4 Wins

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The final season of Samurai Jack turned out to be the big animation winner at the 2017 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, racking up four awards at the ceremony, which took place last Saturday and Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

All four of honors for the Adult Swim series came in the individual achievement in animation category, a juried award that is not voted on by the entire membership, but rather screened by a jury of appropriate branch members. The four artists who won for Samurai Jack were Bryan Andrews (storyboard artist), Scott Wills (production designer), Craig Kellman (character designer), and Lou Romano (background designer).

The "Samurai Jack" crew at the Emmy Awards. Photo via Scott Wills.
The “Samurai Jack” crew at the Emmy Awards. Photo via Scott Wills.

Here is the official description of how the Television Academy votes on the juried categories, which also include Innovation in Interactive Programming and Motion Design:

Juried categories require all entrants to be screened by a panel of professionals in the appropriate peer group, with the possibility of one, more than one or no entry being awarded an Emmy. As a consequence, there are no nominees, but instead a one-step evaluation and voting procedure. Deliberations include open discussions of each entrant’s work, with a thorough review of the merits of awarding the Emmy. After each deliberation, the jury considers the question, “Is this entry worthy of an Emmy award – yea or nay?” Only those with unanimous approval win.

A list of all the animation-related winners of this year’s Emmy Awards is below. To see the nominees in the animation categories, check out this earlier post.

Animated Program
  • Bob’s Burgers “Bob, Actually” (FOX)
Short Form Animated Program
  • Adventure Time “Islands Part 4: Imaginary Resources” (Cartoon Network)
Character Voice-Over Performance
  • Family Guy “The Boys In The Band” (FOX) Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire
Original Interactive Program
  • The People’s House – Inside The White House With Barack And Michelle Obama (Samsung/Oculus) Felix & Paul Studios and Oculus
Main Title Design
  • Stranger Things (Netflix)
Special Visual Effects
  • Westworld “The Bicameral Mind” (HBO)
Special Visual Effects In A Supporting Role
  • Gotham “Heavydirtysoul” (Fox)
Individual Achievement in Animation (juried award)
  • Samurai Jack “XCIII” (Adult Swim)
    Bryan Andrews, storyboard artist
  • Samurai Jack “XCIII” (Adult Swim)
    Scott Wills, production designer
  • Samurai Jack “XCII” (Adult Swim)
    Craig Kellman, character designer
  • Samurai Jack “XCV” (Adult Swim)
    Lou Romano, background designer
  • Wander Over Yonder “The End of the Galaxy” (Disney XD)
    Justin Nichols, character animator
Motion Design (juried award)
  • Beyond Magic (ABC)
  • 13th (Netflix)
Innovation in Interactive Programming (juried award)
  • Pearl (Google Spotlight Stories)

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