The Annie Awards are presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society – which exists to champion the art of animation and its creators. The annual awards, now in their 52nd year, are the animation industry’s premiere celebration of the craft of animation. Winners were announced on February 8, 2025 for 32 competition categories covering animation in feature films, television, event programming, shorts, VFX, games, and more.
Wacom was proud to be the part of the Annie Awards again this year – both to celebrate the winners, including friend and longtime Wacom user Aaron Blaise, and to announce our participation in the AnimAID initiative to support artists affected by the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Here’s a recap of some of the highlights of the event.
Congratulations to the winners
Dreamworks Animation‘s The Wild Robot practically swept the awards with nine wins, from Best Feature to Character Animation to Production Design.
Independent feature Flow and Netflix’s Arcane also brought home a number of awards, as did Orion and the Dark and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
A legend is recognized: Aaron Blaise
Legendary animator and friend of Wacom Aaron Blaise was honored with the Winsor McCay Award. Named in honor of animator Winsor McCay, a pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation, the award is one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry, recognizing their contributions over their career. Below is a timestamped YouTube embed of Blaise accepting his award (video should begin at 26:28):
Support for artists affected by the Southern California wildfires
Wacom is proud to be a part of and to contribute to the “AnimAID” fund, announced by ASIFA-Hollywood at the ceremony. Watch the video below, timestamped to the announcement (video should start at 57:12):
“AnimAID is an unprecedented fundraising campaign in support of our colleagues in the animation industry who have lost so much in the recent fires. Formed in collaboration with ASIFA-Hollywood, industry co-workers and animation studios, big and small, the fund has already raised thousands. Next is a prestigious online auction in partnership with Sotheby’s scheduled for late March, with other events to come.”
Beyond a donation: How Wacom is supporting artists affected by wildfires
Since the announcement at the Annie Awards, more has happened, and Wacom is proud to have continued its support of those affected by the fires. Here’s what Wacom has accomplished so far:
Donation of Wacom Products
Wacom is partnering with the TAG Foundation and the Animation Guild to help over 50 members who lost their homes. We’re also coordinating with OddBot Studios to donate 37 of their older Cintiqs, ensuring affected artists have the tools they need to keep creating.
Pop-Up Creative Workspaces
USC, UCLA, CalArts, and other institutions have opened their doors to provide safe spaces for displaced artists to continue working.
Partnership with Resellers
Wacom has also partnered with the TAG Foundation and the Animation Guild to ensure over 50 affected members receive discounts and donated Cintiqs. MacHollywood is also collaborating to provide discounted pricing, with Patrick Ingoldsby leading efforts to identify those most in need.
Note: the feature image for this blog post was accessed via AnimationMagazine.net.
