2012 Animation Awards Season (UPDATED)

2012 was a great year for animation! This can be seen by the number of films that have won a Best Animated Film award from the different critics associations and award organizations. Out of the 60 or so award associations I follow, the following have announced winners for 2012:

Academy Awards: Brave
Alliance of Women Film Journalists: ParaNorman
Annie Awards: Wreck-It Ralph
Austin Film Critics Association: Wreck-It Ralph
British Academy of Film and Television Arts: Brave
Boston Society of Film Critics: Frankenweenie
Central Ohio Film Critics Assocation: ParaNorman (runner-up Wreck-It Ralph)
Chicago Film Critics Association: ParaNorman
Critics Choice Movie Awards: Wreck-It Ralph
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association: ParaNorman (runner-ups Frankenweenie and Pirates! Band of Misfits)
Florida Film Critics Circle: Frankenweenie
Golden Globes: Brave
Houston Film Critics Society: Wreck-It Ralph
International Press Academy: Rise of the Guardians
Iowa Film Critics Association: Brave
Kansas City Film Critics Circle: Frankenweenie
Las Vegas Film Critics Society: ParaNorman
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Frankenweenie (runner-up It's Such a Beautiful Day)
National Board of Review: Wreck-It Ralph
Nevada Film Critics Society: Frankenweenie
New York Film Critics Circle: Frankenweenie 
New York Film Critics Online: Chico & Rita
North Texas Film Critics Association: Wreck-It Ralph
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle: Wreck-It Ralph
Online Film Critics Society: ParaNorman
Phoenix Film Critics Society:  Wreck-It Ralph
St. Louis Film Critics Association: Wreck-It Ralph (runner-up ParaNorman)
San Diego Film Critics Society: ParaNorman
San Francisco Film Critics Circle: ParaNorman
Southeastern Film Critics Association: ParaNorman (runner-up Frankenweenie)
Toronto Film Critics Association: ParaNorman (runner-ups Brave and Frankenweenie)
Utah Film Critics Association: ParaNorman (runner-ups Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph)
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association: ParaNorman
Women Film Critics Circle: Rise of the Guardians (Best Family Film, tied with Life of Pi)

I will keep this list updated as more awards are announced.

Here is a count of wins for each film:

Brave	4
Chico & Rita	1
Frankenweenie	6
ParaNorman	12
Rise of the Guardians	2
Wreck-It Ralph	9

There are a couple of surprises here. The first is that the New York Film Critics Online gave the award to Chico & Rita, a film I am not at all familiar with. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature this year at the Oscars, and has an 86% rating on RottenTomatoes so I am happy it is getting some award recognition from the critics. The other real surprise to me is a film missing from the above list: Brave. On one hand this saddens me as I think it's a great film and very worthy of some recognition. On the other hand, I think this goes to show how strong the animation industry has become. Look at the studios represented by these films - Laika, DreamWorks, Sony (Hotel Transylvania has been nominated for awards, and the studio co-produced The Adventures of Tintin last year), in addition to Disney and Pixar. And last year's Academy Award winner Rango came from ILM. This is a good sign for the animation industry!

I'll keep this count up-to-date as award season progresses. If you're interested in seeing what awards Brave has been nominated for and has won, check out the Pixar Wikia Brave Award page.

UPDATE (12/31/2012)
I've updated the list above with 9 more award organizations. ParaNorman continues to lead in the awards with Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph close behind. Rise of the Guardians received another win, and Brave did receive runner-up recognition from the Toronto Film Critics Association, but it still has no wins. Likewise, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association gave a runner-up nod to Pirates! Band of Misfits. I don't remember a previous year where 3 films seemed as equally likely to win the major Best Animated Film award. It will be very interesting to see which films take home the award from the major award organizations, which will heat up in January! Stay tuned!

UPDATE (1/11/2013)
4 more critic organizations announced winners - the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (ParaNorman), the Critics Choice Awards (Wreck-It Ralph), the Houston Film Critics Society (Wreck-It Ralph) and the Online Film Critics Society (ParaNorman). That makes 26 organizations having made their winner announcements.

We're also getting closer to the top-tier nominations and winners. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced their nominations for the year on the 9th, which included Brave, Frankenweenie and ParaNorman. It is really a shame the BAFTA treats animation as a second class entity - it is the only category that has 3 nominations (the other categories all have 5). This means great films like Wreck-It Ralph and Pirates! Band of Misfits do not get the recognition they deserve. The Academy Award nominations were announced on the 10th and included the 3 BAFTA nominations plus Wreck-It Ralph and Pirates! Band of Misfits. Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees! All of these films are deserving of the Best Animated Film award, it will be exciting to see which one takes it home!

UPDATE (1/28/2013)
The Producers Guild of America gave the Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures award to Wreck-It Ralph!

FINAL UPDATE (2/27/2013)
What a roller coaster of an awards year it was! Both ParaNorman and Frankenweenie started off strong but fell off at the end. Conversely, Brave started slowly but ended up winning the majority of the "major" awards including the Best Animated Feature awards from BAFTA, the Golden Globes and this week, the Academy Awards! Wreck-It Ralph also did great, winning a number of Annie Awards, including their Best Animated Feature Award.

For a full list of all the awards Brave was nominated for (and won), please check out its wiki page.