Animation Blog

The Elan Awards 2009, an awards body dedicated to the video game and animation industry, have released their winners for this year. Dominating the video games category is the game Left 4 Dead while among the notable winners for the animation division include Disney’s Wall-E, Marvel’s Iron Man and the iconic cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants.

Conceptualized in 2006, the Elans have dedicated itself solely to these two industries by giving accolade to its most successful representatives. For the 2009 Elan Awards, the trophy hardware has been expanded to include the addition of Motion Picture Live-Action/Animation and SPFX award categories.

Left 4 Dead, a shooter game from Valve, came on top by winning the awards for Video Game of the Year, Best Console Game, Best PC Game, Best Game Design and Outstanding Technical Innovation. Here is the official movie intro trailer of Left 4 Dead to show you why it merited all its awards:

On the other hand, Iron Man took home the award for Best Visual Effects in a Feature Film while Wall-E was recognized as the Best Feature Length Animated Production. The voice of SpongeBob Squarepants, Tom Kenny, was recognized as the Best Voice Over.

Here are the rest of the 2009 Elan Awards winner:

Video Game Of The Year

LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve

Best Console Game

FALLOUT 3
Bethesda Softworks — Todd Howard, Game Director; Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer; Gavin Carter, Lead Producer

LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve

Best PC Game

LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve

Best Casual/Arcade Game

MYSTERY CASE FILES: RETURN TO RAVENHEARST
Big Fish Games — Pat Wylie, Adrian Woods, Chris Campbell, Producer

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

CLUB PENGUIN: ELITE PENGUIN FORCE (Handheld)
1st Playable Productios/Disney Interactive — Tobi Saulnier, Founder & CEO, 1st Playable Productions; Zhenelle Falk, Producer/ Designer; Andrew Carroll, Lead Programmer; Ian McConahey Stead, Lead Artist

Best Sound in a Video Game Production

Mike Larson, Audio Director; Steve Jablonsky, Composer; Jamey Scott, Sound Designer; Joey Kuras, Sound Designer
GEARS OF WAR 2
Epic Games, Microsoft

Best Art Direction

Istvan Pely, Lead Artist
FALLOUT 3
Bethesda Softworks

Best Game Design

Gabe Newell
LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve

Outstanding Technical Innovation

Gabe Newell
LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve

Best Feature-Length Animated Production

WALL-E
Disney/Pixar
(Selected by children’s votes)

Best Animated Television Production

ZEKE’S PAD
My Pad Prod’s/Avrill Stark Entertainment; Bardel Entertainment Inc./Flying Bark Productions — Delna Bhesania, Producer; Liz Scully, Producer; Leonard Terhoch, Producer; Avrill Stark, Producer

Best Animated Short Subject

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING (intro cinematic)
Blizzard Entertainment — Jeff Chamberlain, Director; Phillip Hillenbrand, Producer

Best Director for an Animated Production

Dennis Jackson, Melanie Jackson and Cam Lizotte
WAPOS BAY: THE SERIES
Wapos Bay Studio National Film Board of Canada

Best Voice Over in an Animated Production (All genres)

Tom Kenny
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
Nickelodeon

Best Character Animation

Graham MacDonald, Animation Director; Emma Gignac, Animation Director; Kim Buck, Animation Supervisor; Justin Sels, Animation Supervisor
TOOT & PUDDLE
Mercury Filmworks/National Geographic Kids Entertainment

Best Art Direction

Zoe Evamy, Senior Art Director; Patricia Atchison, Art Director
ZEKE’S PAD
My Pad Prod’s/Avrill Stark Entertainment; Bardel Entertainment Inc./Flying Bark Productions

Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effect Driven Feature Film

IRON MAN
The Embassy VFX, Inc./Ironworks Prod’s, Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures
The Embassy: Winston Helgason, Visual Effects Supervisor; Charlie Bradbury, Visual Effects Producer; Stephen Pepper, Compositing Supervisor; Michael Blackbourn, CG Lead

Best Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series, Miniseries or MOW

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
Bartleby Co. and The Halcyon Co. in assoc. with Warner Bros. Television
Jim Lima, VFX Supervisor; Steve Galich, SFX Coordinator

Best Visual Effects in an Independent/Short Film

ROCK GARDEN: A LOVE STORY
Pix Ray VFX/Gloryous Production, 2.8 Pictures
Andrew Szerszen, VFX Supervisor; Guy Gatenby, Lead Matte-Painter; Michael MacInnis, Lead Composer

Best Visual Effects Shot

MAX PAYNE
Spin VFX/20th Century Fox
Jeff Campbell, VFX Supervisor; Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor; Mark Schreiber, Lead Animator; Tim Sibley, Lead FX TD

Best Digital Environment

MAX PAYNE
Spin VFX/20th Century Fox
Jeff Campbell, VFX Supervisor; Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor;Mark Schreiber, Lead Animator; Tim Sibley, Lead FX TD

Best Animated Character

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN
MPC/Walt Disney and Walden Media
Greg Fisher, Animation Supervisor; Peta Bayley, Lead Animator; Julio del Rio Hernandez, Lead Animator; Tom Reed, Head of Rigging

Best Student Video Game

DEGUIYU MASTERS OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Centre for Digital Media, GNW, (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Bryant DJ Davey, Xbox Director; Su Yon Sohn, Web Presence Director; Liam Kelly, Support

Best Student Animated Production

SNARED
Algonquin College Animation Program (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

Best Visual Effects in a Student Project

Winner: SPACE BAR
Lost Boys Learning (Comox, British Columbia, Canada)
George Kyparissous