While the current pandemic has been a challenge, ASIFA-Hollywood’s 48th Annie Awards™ ceremony will be held–either virtually or live–on Friday, April 16, 2021. The final decision on whether the ceremony is virtual or live will be determined this October 2020. “What this epidemic has taught us is to be flexible in the ways we deliver our message and share our experiences,” said ASIFA-Hollywood VP Sue Shakespeare. “Regardless of how the Annies ceremony is presented this year, it will honor all of the talent in our animation community with the utmost respect and inclusion.”
Key dates for the 48th Annie Awards™ ceremony include:
- Call for Entries – Monday, January 4, 2021;
- Annies submissions deadline – 5 p.m. (PST), Monday, February 1, 2021;
- Nominations announced at 8 a.m. (PST) on Wednesday, March 3, 2021;
- Online balloting begins Monday, March 29, 2021 and ends Friday, April 9, 2021.
The 48th Annie Awards™ Rules & Categories were also released, along with the start of ASIFA-Hollywood’s Annual Membership drive. All of this information–as well as other important dates and details for the Annie Awards–is now available here. Questions and concerns will be answered through the "Open Zendesk" tab on the site.
“The coronavirus has had an effect on almost everything in our lives. The Annies are no exception. Every year, rules are amended and, this year, dates have been adjusted, too,” said ASIFA-Hollywood executive director, Frank Gladstone. “What is most important right now is to know that the 48th Annual Annie Awards will happen on April 16, 2021.”
To review this year’s rules, click here. Entries submitted for consideration will be from animated productions that were released in the United States between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. Exceptions are commercials, short subjects, special projects and student films, which can qualify with or without United States releases. Submissions close on Monday, February 1, 2021 at 5p.m. (PST).
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More