ASIFA-Hollywood announced this year’s slate of recipients for its Juried Awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. The Juried award recipients will be honored at the 45th Annie Awards™ set for Saturday, February 3, 2018 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation are being presented to three recipients –British character animator, James Baxter; SpongeBob SquarePants creator, Stephen Hillenburg; and the Canadian animation duo, Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis. The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to TVPaint for its versatile software for 2D animation; The Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Studio MDHR Entertainment for its 1930s inspired wonder-game Cuphead; and the June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation will be awarded to animation historian, Didier Ghez. The Certificate of Merit award will be presented to David Nimitz, devoted friend and caretaker of veteran voice actress, and ASIFA-Hollywood & Annie Award pioneer June Foray, who passed away in July at the age of 99.
ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the art of animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation, special events, classes and screenings.
Created in 1972 by Foray, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades.
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More