Annie Awards for Best Animated Cartoon

Often a predictor of the annual Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Annie Awards recognize the year's best animated features, television productions, commercials, short subjects and outstanding individual achievements in the field of animation.

The travel adventure "Up" was the winner of the best animated feature at the 37th annual Annie Awards.
"Up" director Pete Docter won the award for directing in a feature production.

Also competing for top honors at the Annies, presented exclusively for animated films, were the musical fairy tale "The Princess and the Frog," the storybook adaptations "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," the dark family tale "Coraline" and the Irish adventure "The Secret of Kells."

All the films, except "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," are nominees for best animated feature film at this year's Academy Awards. "Up" is also nominated for best picture at the Oscars.

"Coraline" and "The Princess and the Frog" won three Annies apiece, including Shane Prigmore for character design in a feature production for "Coraline" and James Mansfield for animated effects for "The Princess and the Frog."

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach won the Annie for best writing in a feature presentation for "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

The winners of the Annie Awards, presented by the International Animated Film Society, were announced Saturday at a ceremony in Los Angeles.