^{Credit: Ghost in the Shell (Palm Pictures), 1996 Annie Awards Program (ASIFA-Hollywood), Balto (Universal Pictures)}

Writing my book(s), Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows, I didn’t want to exclusively focus on the Oscars. It was my goal for this project to be just as much about animation’s history at the Emmys and Annie Awards. In the latter’s case, this is the first book to provide a deep dive into the Annies, the premier animation award show. My research went far beyond a Google search. To get into specifics about each Annie ceremony, it tracked down numerous newspaper articles, animation fanzines, and even Annie programs. I’ll be sharing these research materials on this site in an ongoing series called The Annie Awards Archive.

This month marks the 20^th anniversary of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It also sees the release of Toy Story 5. Now seemed as good a time as any to look back at the 24^th Annie Awards in 1996, when the original Toy Story beat Hunchback for Best Animated Feature. Also nominated that year was Henry Selick’s adaptation of James and the Giant Peach. According to Wikipedia, IMDb, and AnnieAwards.org, Balto and Ghost in the Shell were also nominated that year. Doing research for my books, though, I came across a discrepancy that gave me pause.

Girard Miller, who was formerly a treasurer for ASIFA-Hollywood, was nice enough to scan some pages from the 1996 Annie Awards program for me. One page stood out. While James, Hunchback, and Toy Story were all listed as Best Animated Feature nominees, Balto and Ghost were nowhere to be found.

^{Credit: 1996 Annie Awards Program (ASIFA-Hollywood)}

At first, this seemed like it might have been a printing error. Yet, the plot thickened when I came across a November 1996 issue of Inbetweener, the newsletter of the International Animated Film Society. This issue included a list of nominees for that year’s Annie Awards. Once again, Balto and Ghost were absent from Best Animated Feature. That wasn’t the only contradiction with what’s online. According to Wikipedia, IMDb, and AnnieAwards.org, Ghost got five nominations overall while Balto received four. In the Inbetweener article, neither is listed once.

The differences don’t end there. The online sources claim Disney’s Gargoyles got six nominations that year. In the Inbetweener article, Gargoyles is listed once under the Best Television Program lineup. Inbetweener also claims that Liz Ralston was nominated for Individual Achievement: Producing for Babe and Nick Park was nominated for Individual Achievement: Directing for A Close Shave, among other inconsistencies with what’s online. On top of all that, the online sources say that Hunchback scored thirteen nominations, whereas Inbetweener caps it off at seven nominations.

^{Credit: Inbetweener November 1996}

The online sources list the winners for Best Animated Video Production and Best Animated Short Subject, although the other nominees in those categories are missing. According to the program and Inbetweener article, that year’s short subject nominees included Courage of the Cowardly Dog in the Chicken From Outer Space, Jof in Help?, Mina and the Count: Interlude with a Vampire, Monkey Love, and Prelude to Eden, which lost to Cow and Chicken: No Smoking. They also say that Home Video winner The Land Before Time III was nominated against The Easter Promise and Macross Plus Volume 4. The online sources make no mention of that year’s Best Promotional Production category, with the nominees apparently being In the Middle, Mr Butts Goes to Washington, Passion, Speed Racer, and Tattoo.

^{Credit: 1996 Annie Awards Program (ASIFA-Hollywood)}

This naturally sent me down the Internet Archive rabbit hole to see if there were any records of the 1996 Annie Awards. By 2005, AnnieAwards.org had an almost complete list of nominees and winners from every year. That is, except for 1996. While it was mentioned that Toy Story won Best Animated Feature that year, there was no link to the 1996 Annie nominees or winners. I kept browsing through Internet Archive, but the site seemingly didn’t list the 1996 nominees and winners until 2020. With that, the Annies officially recognized Ghost in the Shell and Balto as nominees, but that year’s program and Inbetweener article tell a different story.  

^{Credit: Internet Archive}

So, which has the correct list of nominees, the online sources or the print media I found? I reached out to a few individuals at ASIFA-Hollywood, although they’re just as perplexed as me. ASIFA doesn’t have an archive for the Annies, meaning we may never get a concrete answer. I hate to end this on an inconclusive note, but unless someone from ASIFA-Hollywood can provide a record of that year’s ceremony, it remains open to debate. On the plus side, I tracked down another Inbetweener article from Summer 1997, listing the 1996 Annie Awards winners. Those winners line up with what’s online. So, even if there remains confusion over some of the nominees, the winners seem set in stone.

^{Credit: Inbetweener Summer 1997}

View our previous retrospects on the 1972 and 1973 Annie Awards, as well as 1992 and 1997. 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!