Disney Pixar have decided that they have no desire to participate in the ASIFA, and therefore have removed themselves from the running for the prestigious Annie Awards – the top honour in Animation Awards.
Disney/Pixar announced yesterday that they are withdrawing from the International Animated Film Association and will no longer participate in the Annie Awards.
So how exactly can you hand out an award for the best in animation when the studio producing arguably the best animated content won’t be eligible?
Seems this all comes from a controversy in 2008 when Wall-E lost out to Kung Fu Panda in a landslide decision. And it wasn’t a bitterness that made them walk. It was something deeper than that.
Seems closer investigation into the voting process appears that CEO Jeffrey Katenberg had personally paid for ASIFA memberships (the orgnaization that gives out the Annies) for his employees with the agreement that they would vote for the company team.
While the voting system allows only members who are qualified to vote on categories in their professional area of expertise, all members are allowed to vote for “Best Film” and technically any win could be bought just by getting your employees memberships.
So instead of buying memberships and feeding the coffers of a flawed award system, Disney Pixar just isn’t playing their game.
So it appears the integrity of the award is already shattered, so it doesn’t make much difference if the top contenders are not competing anymore.
So next year’s Annie Awards will go out to the rest of the industry, who paid for their votes. I wonder if this will shift policy within the awards, or kill the association entirely.
