25th Annie Awards explained

November 16, 1997

----Best Feature Film:
Cats Don't Dance----Best Television Program:
The Simpsons----Best Home Video Production:
Aladdin and the King of Thieves----Best Short Subject:
Bjork: I Miss You
(Bjork's Music Video)

The 25th Annie Awards were given by the International Animated Film Association to honor outstanding achievements in animation in 1997. Cats Don't Dance led the nominations with 8 and won two awards, including Best Animated Feature, the first non-Disney film to win it. Disney's Hercules and Fox's The Simpsons won the most awards with four. The Simpsons won its Best Animated Television Program for the sixth time in a row.

Ceremony information

The 25th Annie Awards ceremony took place on Sunday, November 16, 1997, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The ceremony started at 2:00 p.m. with a champagne reception, guests had ample time to meet and greet on the patio outside the theater. The show itself, hosted by voice actor Gary Owens, was a well-produced two hours of Owens' witty remarks and character voices, nominee footage, acceptance speeches, and introductions by presenters such as Bill Kroyer, Nick Bosustow, June Foray and Jerry Beck.^[1]

Production categories

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger .

Cats Don't Dance – Turner Feature Animation, David Kirschner Productions Hercules – Walt Disney Productions Space Jam – Uli Meyer Features (animation); Character Builders (animation); Charles Gammage Animation (animation); Rees/Leiva Productions (animation); Spaff Animation (animation); Stardust Pictures (animation); Warner Bros.; Courtside Seats Productions; Northern Lights Entertainment	The Simpsons – Fox, Gracie Films, Film Roman, Klasky Csupo Dexter's Laboratory King of the Hill – Fox, Film Roman Pinky and the Brain – Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Animation, Amblin Entertainment The Tick – Fox, AKOM Production Company, Fox Children's Network, Graz Entertainment; Sunbow Productions
Aladdin and the King of Thieves – Walt Disney Feature Animation – Universal Cartoon Studios A Rugrats Vacation – Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie – Artisan Entertainment	Bjork: I Miss You – Bjork's Music Video Saturday Night Live for the episode "The Ambiguously Gay Duo #2” Saturday Night Live for the episode "The Ambiguously Gay Duo #3” Action League Now	- Rock-A-Big Baby The Big Hunt
Super Mom – Coca-Cola Main Title – The Angry Beavers Main Title – Gargoyles Promotional Trailer – Spawn

Outstanding individual achievements in Film

Ron Clements and John Musker – Hercules Mark Dindal – Cats Don't Dance Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone – Space Jam	Alice Dewey, Ron Clements and John Musker – Hercules David Kirschner and Paul Gertz – Cats Don't Dance Ron Tippe – Space Jam
Mauro Maressa – Hercules John Allan Armstrong – Cats Don't Dance Bob Simmons – Cats Don't Dance Jay Redd – Contact	Nik Ranieri (for the character Hades) – Hercules Bob Baxter (for the episode "Beethoven's Whiff") – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa Frans Vischer (for the characters Daria Dimple and Max) – Cats Don't Dance Ken Duncan (for the character Meg) – Hercules
Randy Newman – Cats Don't Dance Mark Watters and Carl Johnson – Aladdin and the King of Thieves Steve Goldstein – Cats Don't Dance Leslie Bricusse – Woody Guthrie and Frank Fuchs – This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie	Space Jam – Uli Meyer Features (animation); Character Builders (animation); Charles Gammage Animation (animation); Rees/Leiva Productions (animation); Spaff Animation (animation); Stardust Pictures (animation)

Outstanding individual achievements in Television

*Mikel B. Anderson – The Simpsons* for the episode "Homer's Phobia"** Charles Visser – Animaniacs for the episode "Noel" John Rice – King of the Hill for the episode "Keeping Up with Our Jones" Robert Gannaway and Tony Craig – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa for the episodes "Beethoven's Whiff", "Bumble in the Jungle" and "Mind Over Matterhorn" David Wasson – Cartoon Sushi, for the episode "Voice B Gone"	*Al Jean and Mike Reiss – The Simpsons* for the episode "The Springfield Files"** Genndy Tartakovsky – Dexter's Laboratory for the episode "Ham Hocks in Arm Locks" Mitch Watson – Duckman for the episode "Ebony Baby" Kathi Castillo – Earthworm Jim for the episode "Hyper-Psycrow" J. J. Sedelmaier – Saturday Night Live for the episode "The Ambiguously Gay Duo #2"
Rob Paulsen as Pinky – Pinky and the Brain Jeff Bennett as Johnny Bravo – Johnny Bravo Mike Judge as Hank Hill – King of the Hill Phil Hayes as Tumbleweed Tex – School Daze Townsend Coleman as The Tick – The Tick	June Foray as Granny – The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Christine Cavanaugh as Dexter – Dexter's Laboratory Tress MacNeille as Debbie Douglas – Freakazoid! for the episode "Mission Freakazoid" Brittany Murphy as Luanne – King of the Hill Maggie Roswell as Sharry Bobbins – The Simpsons for the episode "Supercalifragilisticexpial(annoyed grunt)cious"
*Mitch Schauer – The Angry Beavers* for the episode "Born to Be Beavers"** Mike Moon – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa for the episode "Bumble in the Jungle" Kexx Singleton – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa for the episode "Beethoven's Whiff" Sy Thomas Tex – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa for the episode "Bumble in the Jungle" Barbara Schade – The Magic Pearl	Alf Clausen – The Simpsons Michael Tavera, Charles Fernandez, Ron Grant and Harvey Cohen – Casper Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker – Dexter's Laboratory Carl Johnson – Disney's Mighty Ducks Shirley Walker (main title theme) – Superman Michael Silversher and Michael Silversher – Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh
*Jason Butler Rote and Paul Rudish – Dexter's Laboratory* for the episode "The Beard to be Feared"** Mark Young – Adventures from the Book of Virtues for the episode "Loyalty" Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland – King of the Hill for the episode "Shins of the Father" Paul Lieberstein – King of the Hill for the episode "Luanne's Saga" Jane Wagner – Edith Ann's Christmas: Just Say Noel	*Nora Johnson – Cow and Chicken* for the episode "Orthodontic Police"** Denise Koyama – Jungle Cubs for the episode "A Night in the Wasteland" Eric Radomski – Spawn for the episode "Burning Visions" Carolyn Gair-Taylor – The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries for the episode "Spaced-Out" Bob Logan – The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa for the episode "Bumble in the Jungle"

Juried Awards

Winsor McCay Award
Recognition for career contributions to the art of animation

Willis H. O'Brien Posthumous recognition
Myron Waldman
Paul Winchell

June Foray Award
Recognition of benevolent/charitable impact on the art and industry of animation

Phyllis Craig Posthumous recognition

Certificate of Merit
Recognition for service to the art, craft and industry of animation

Women in Animation
The World Animation Celebration

Multiple wins and nominations

The following sixteen productions received multiple nominations:

Nominations	Production
	Cats Don't Dance
6	Hercules
King of the Hill
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
5	Dexter's Laboratory
The Simpsons
4	Space Jam
3	Saturday Night Live
2	The Angry Beavers
Aladdin and the King of Thieves

Pinky and the Brain
Spawn
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries
This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie
The Tick

The following three productions received multiple awards:

Awards	Production
4	Hercules
The Simpsons
2	Cats Don't Dance

Notes and References

Web site: The 25th Annual Annie Awards. December 1997. Animation World Magazine, Issue 2.9. February 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160202200431/http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.9/2.9pages/2.9annie.html. February 2, 2016. live.