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Winsor McCay Award Recipients Announced At Comic Con

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced its 2008 Winsor McCay Award recipients during a private reception Friday, July 25, at the Gaslight Marriott during Comic Con. This year's Winsor McCay recipients are: Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park. Award recipients will claim their trophies at the 36th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2009, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Named in honor of animator Winsor McCay, best known as a prolific artist and pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation, the Winsor McCay Award stands as one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation.

The 2008 Winsor McCay Award Recipients are:

Mike Judge is the creator of MTV's BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD and Fox's KING OF THE HILL. Judge started his career as an independent animator creating several short films, including OFFICE SPACE WITH MILTON and FROG BASEBALL, animating them on his kitchen table. Judge provides the voices for his main characters (Beavis, Butt-head and Hank Hill) and has directed a feature length version of BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD, as well as several critically acclaimed live action films. His third animated series, THE GOODE FAMILY, will air next year on ABC.

John Lasseter is a pioneering computer animation director and currently the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation. Lasseter, a Cal Arts graduate, began his career in hand drawn character animation at Disney in 1975. He joined Pixar when it was still an experimental unit of Lucasfilm in 1984. He added a cartoonist's vision to the world of computer graphics, combining strong storytelling with classic character animation. After winning an Academy Award for his short, TIN TOY, he led Pixar to commercial and critical success with such feature films as TOY STORY, A BUG'S LIFE, and CARS.

Nick Park is a British clay animator who charmed the world with his Academy Award winning short, CREATURE COMFORTS, and hilarious characters WALLACE AND GROMIT. He started his first film, A GRAND DAY OUT, while still a student at the National Film and Television School. He joined Aardman Animation in 1985 and went on to complete three WALLACE AND GROMIT shorts and co-directed two feature films, CHICKEN RUN and the Academy Award winning WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. His fourth WALLACE AND GROMIT short, A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH, will be released later this year.