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Hayao Miyazaki Wins Annie Award for Writing The Wind Rises
posted on by Egan Loo
Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki won the Annie Award for Writing in an Animated Feature Production on Saturday. He was competing with the writers of Monsters University and Frozen. The Wind Rises' Kitaro Kousaka was also nominated for Character Animation in a Animated Feature Production, but lost to The Croods animator Jakob Jensen.
The Wind Rises was competing for Best Animated Feature along with A Letter to Momo (distributed by GKIDS); Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen won the top award of the night and four other awards. The Annie Awards Ceremonies' host Patrick Warburton joked in his opening monologue that The Wind Rises is Miyazaki's fifth "final" feature, and he cannot wait to see Miyazaki's sixth.
Anime and manga creator Katsuhiro Ōtomo appeared in person to accept the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement. He joked that he does not know why he received the award since he does not watch his own works, so he promised to go back to Japan to watch his films. He added that the award will inspire him on his future works.
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