Anima 2003, the 22nd Animation Festival, concluded in Brussels on March 9, 2003 with an awards presentation and the announcement of four Cartoon d'Or nominations. Anima 2003 (formerly the Brussels Cartoon and Animation Festival) is one of the seven European partner festivals for the Cartoon d'Or, which will be awarded in Varese next September 2003.

Retro Studios of Austin, Texas was at the top of its game, winning Game of the Year and Excellence in Level of Design for its METROID PRIME, as well as Rookie Studio of the year honors March 6, 2003, at the 3rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards during the 2003 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California. The Oscar-equivalent in the gaming world, the Choice Awards are true peer recognition honors, as all nominees and recipients are voted on free of charge, by professional game developers around the world.

The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS), the international association of the leading Internet-based cinema journalists, has released its choices of the Top 100 Animated Features of All Time with TOY STORY placing first according to a vote of the 138 reviewers.

It seems many of the winners at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 2002 Scientific and Technical Awards are jumping onto other teams. The first Oscars of the season were given out, three weeks before the televised Oscar ceremony on Saturday, March 1, 2003 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS picked up three BAFTA awards Sunday, February 23, 2003, during the Orange British Academy Film Awards held at the Odeon Leicester Square in the heart of London's West end. The VFX epic motion picture received Orange Film of the Year (voted by the public, whereas THE PIANIST won for Best Film, voted by members British Academy of Film and Television Arts). RINGS also won for Achievement in Special Visual Effects, singling out Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke for recognition.

Norah Jones may have won the giant awards at the 45th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 23, 2003, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, however MONSTERS, INC. – SCREAM FACTORY FAVORITES won for Best Musical Album For Children. Country western group Riders In The Sky performed the sing-along with Mike and Sulley for Walt Disney Records. The CD comes with a book and lyrics for family fun. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, won a Grammy from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.

Upping the recognition and honors for visual effects professionals, the Visual Effects Society kicked off its first annual awards ceremony Wednesday, February 19, 2003 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS led the night with eight film awards while DINOTOPIA garnered four for television. Character animation was highlighted with awards given in television, animated and live-action features.

The recipients will be announced at a ceremony on March 6, 2003, during the Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 4-8 in San Jose, Calif. Produced by the Gama Network, the GDC is the largest annual event exclusively for game development professionals. Nominations were free and open to all professional game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation, so that nominees reflect the international development community's opinions.

Five films were selected in the Best Animated Feature Film category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that were announced this morning for the 75th Academy Awards. Three are Walt Disney releases, LILO & STITCH (Chris Sanders), SPIRITED AWAY (Hayao Miyazaki) and TREASURE PLANET (Ron Clements), which will vie against Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky's ICE AGE (Chris Wedge) and DreamWorks' SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (Jeffrey Katzenberg).

ICE AGE, LILO AND STITCH, THE WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE and SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON received nominations in both best sound editing and music in animated features from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, which will present its Golden Reel Awards at the Century Plaza Hotel March 22 during the group's 50th annual awards banquet. TV series CSI, FASTLANE, JOHN DOE and SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS took two noms each as well.

And the nominees are…

Best Sound Editing In Domestic Features: Sound Effects/Foley