Burbank, Calif. - ASIFA-Hollywood has announced that Tom Kenny, the familiar voice behind film and TV's SpongeBob SquarePants,will handle hosting duties again this year for the 36th Annual Annie Awards on Friday, January 30, 2009, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
The black-tie evening begins with a pre-reception at 6 p.m. followed by the Annie Awards ceremony at 8 p.m. and post award party at 10 p.m. All events will be held at Royce Hall.
The Annie Awards ceremony will also be webcasted on www.annieawards.org beginning Tuesday, February 3, 2009.
In honor of the year's best in animation, Kenny will be joined on stage by a mix of animation luminaries, celebrity presenters, and comedic talent including animation legend June Foray, actors Brad Garrett (Ratatouille, Till Death), Seth Green (Austin Powers, "Robot Chicken"), Michael Clarke Duncan (Kung Fu Panda, The Green Mile), James Hong (Kung Fu Panda, Blade Runner), Donald Faison ("Scrubs"), Ben Burtt (Wall-E), Henry Selick (director, Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas), and other special guests.
Presenting the Winsor McCay award to Pixar's John Lasseter will be director emeritus and consultant, The Walt Disney Company and chairman of the board, Shamrock Holdings Inc., Roy Disney.
"As the animation industry has grown, so has the Annie Awards ceremony which honors the best animation has to offer,” says Antran Manoogian, president of ASIFA-Hollywood. “We are thrilled to host the Annies again this year at Royce Hall and look forward to the antics of Tom Kenny to move the ceremony along at a fun and always surprising pace. Again, I applaud our industry and wish to congratulate all of the nominees and award recipients for their outstanding work in 2008.”
DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda leads the field this year with 17 nominations out of 27 overall for the studio, including Best Animated Feature. Walt Disney Animation Studios and its Best Animated Feature Bolt received 9 nominations and Pixar Animation Studios and its Best Animated Feature Wall-E received 8 nominations.