WALL-E did not pick up a single win in any of the categories it was nominated in at last night's 36th annual Annie Awards ceremony. Zero. Instead, DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda swept the show, grabbing thirteen awards, including Best Animated Feature.Is this possible? I suspect the involvement of Katzenberg's deep pockets.
The complete list of winners is here.
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64 comments:
I was absolutely stunned by this. Complete disbelief. Giving the benefit of the doubt, it either shows bribery or total incompetence...
They claim to reward 'excellence in animation' and then this year ignore the one film that is all that and more. Madness.
that is weeeeeiiiird..
is this really "animation's highest honor?"
i may be biased, but yeah, i'm w/ you; i smell a rat-zenburg.
Hey, it's not fair! Wall-e was far better than Panda. Can't wait till Oscars, Wall-e will surely win the "Best Animated Feature" award!
I think I'm gonna be sick!
I am outraged!
That's pretty unbelievable. I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda the first time, but there's no way it should have won over WALL-E in every category.
Any member of ASIFA-Hollywood in good standing as of November 30, 2008 was eligible to participate in the final voting process of the 36th Annual Annie Awards. Voting was conducted online, by secret ballot, beginning on January 12, 2009 with the deadline to cast ballots January 23, 2009.
Two categories of ASIFA-Hollywood membership were eligle to vote:
1) Patron Membership includes International Membership and provides a donation for the Animation Archive and Film Preservation projects, and is $150.00/year; and
2) General Membership ($75/year within the US/$100 outside the US) includes International Membership.
The membership application is here: http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/pics/ahmemberform.pdf
So maybe it wasn't too hard to stack the voting deck after all...
WHAT THE CRAP??? That's ridiculous!!! Kung Fu Panda was not nearly as good as Wall-E. I'm so mad right now, gosh!
When you know that one out of every 4 Annie voters are DreamWorks Animation employees this shouldn't come as a shocker. The Annies are not a serious critics awards and no longer a reliable indicator for the Oscar race.
I know ridiculous. I was there and completely annoyed. I mean i enjoyed Kung fu panda but are you kidding me! wall-e was so much better. Everyone in the green room was tired of watching them win, it was exciting to be back there when Seth Green won for Robot Chicken tho
yeah, kung fu panda was a good movie, but it was pretty much only because it mastered a formulaic plot. wall-e was a completely orginal film, & completely deserving of any award vs. a zero to hero story.
"When you know that one out of every 4 Annie voters are DreamWorks Animation employees this shouldn't come as a shocker."
Then why did Ratatouille sweep the Annies last year? Seems like a lot of Dreamworks employees must have voted for that one to win too.
The bottom line is, the Annies are a chance for people in the animation industry to honor what they felt was the best work done that particular year. Panda happened to appeal to a lot of people who work in the industry for whatever reason, just as Ratatouille did last year.
"The bottom line is, the Annies are a chance for people in the animation industry to honor what they felt was the best work done that particular year."
And we all know that most people in the animation industry and many others found WALL-E to be the best movie of the year. The bottom line, then, is that they didn't vote with their hearts. That means they voted with some other reasoning. Whether it's because they're sick of Pixar sweeping and showing them up, or they just wanted to give DreamWorks an award even if it didn't deserve it over the competition, or because DreamWorks happens to be a Gold Sponsor and Pixar a Silver Sponsor, we'll never know. But it's time to face the music, this isn't a win that makes any sense if we assume that the voters voted for their favorite, because we all know WALL-E is the favored film.
Look at the Individual Achievement Categories. I was guessing that the only one that might go to WALL•E would be maybe Production Design for Ralph Eggelston. It went to Tang Heng for Kung Fu Panda.
In the Character Animation category, It is probably because animating characters like Tai Lung is harder than animating characters like WALL•E. Soft-bodied characters with lots of fur and muscle is more difficult to manipulate than an animated machine, or robot. Animating a character like Tai Lung, would be more like animating a character like Sulley of Monsters, Inc. fame.
...And, if we look, in 2002, Doug Sweetland took home the Annie for character animation for Monsters, Inc., (and took it again for Finding Nemo in 2003), while this year that award went to James Baxter for Kung Fu Panda.
Honestly, characters like Tai Lung, are closer animation-wise to a character like Sulley.
And as for the Annie Awards not liking PIXAR, both Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles each won all nine of their respective awards. Ratatouille also won big, and the year before that, while Happy Feet won at the Oscars, Cars won at the Annie's.
While I thought Andrew Stanton would win for Feature Directing, and WALL•E would win for Best Feature, the other ones I saw coming when the nominations were announced. They are both good movies, and have their strong, (and weak), points when it comes to awards like this. WALL•E has swept other awards, while Kung Fu Panda swept the Annie's. Plain and simple.
"And we all know that most people in the animation industry and many others found WALL-E to be the best movie of the year...
That means they voted with some other reasoning.
...or they just wanted to give DreamWorks an award even if it didn't deserve it
...this isn't a win that makes any sense..., because we all know WALL-E is the favored film."
I LOVE Pixar's films, and find they usually are the best made animated movies each year. However, this year I agree that Kung Fu Panda WAS the better film.
Wall-E is far from a perfect film. The second and third acts don't feel very well worked out. The first act is FANTASTIC, but following acts don't mesh well with it. I heard that those acts were dramatically changed fairly late in production, and we can see the result in the film.
When you consider film AS A WHOLE, Kung Fu Panda is better developed. I've been surprised how few awards KFP has earned, so it's about time it gets recognition for a job well done at Dreamworks! Anyone who loves animated movies should be very happy to see a studio, other than Pixar/Disney create such a beautiful film (story, characters and design.)
Matthew
A travesty.
What the - ?! WALL-E should have totally nailed those awards. Kung Fu Panda was good, but not Annie-Win good ... no, something is not right here. :(
With all due respect to the above poster, you don't appear to know the first thing about plot development.. or you'd realize how box-standard and templated KFP `development' is.
Wall-E on the other hand throws many conventions out the window, telling a highly affecting story in the process.
And that's where the difference with Pixar films lies, time and time again: the story. KFP was fun to watch, one of Dreamworks best offerings. But it was still a hackneyed premise, and relied too heavily on its voice talent, and on light-hearted fat jokes, to make it sustainable. Wall-E on the other hand removes what isn't necessary, manages to be topical, environmentally-conscious, and tells one hell of a love story, all the while not going for cheap laughs.
And for KFP to pick up the Best Animation Effects award over Wall-E may be a singular insult to top the Best Animated Feature category. What Wall-E did in terms of computer animation, integrating real-life focus effect, flooded aperture, camera shake, crash-zooms, &c to give it that hyper-realistic feel--there is no one making films today who can match that level of quality, effects, and expertise.
The Annie Awards have zero credibility. Then again, the Oscars aren't exactly known for their strict appreciation for fine film, so I fear the worst.
The greatest tragedy of all is that a film like Wall-E cannot be nominated for Best Picture.
Wall-E doesn't FEEL animated. That's why it's won so many other awards like LA Film Critics, and why it's swept the "Best Animated Feature" category throughout award season. I think WALL-E has much more in common with Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey than it does with any classic Disney film. Since animation is the medium they chose to express the film, it is part of that category, but it really is a Science Fiction film. Even people within animation tend to see it as a genre not a medium, and since Kung Fu Panda is more of an animation genre film, it won.
The fact that Wall-E lost cinematography makes me beyond pissed off. You can argue everything else, but to say that ANY animated film had better cinematography that Wall-E is complete and utter bull****.
Today marks the first time I've had to bowdlerize a comment.
"When you consider film AS A WHOLE, Kung Fu Panda is better developed."
So they award consistent mediocrity rather than superb brilliance and genre-transcendence? Then the Annies is a joke.
"I've been surprised how few awards KFP has earned, so it's about time it gets recognition for a job well done at Dreamworks!"
Maybe because it's really an inferior film in most eyes. If it had won a single thing before this travesty maybe there would have been a race, and it could come out on top, but no, where was it? Now out of the blue it tramped WALL-E completely and people are supposed to believe it's better than WALL-E? Than Waltz with Bashir? Than $9.99?
This year they make a fool out of themselves.
WTF. was my one thought.
I think in other awards, when Best Animated Feature was the only category for animation, a lot of people voted for WALL•E. But still... do we really know how close some of those races were? WALL•E took home the Golden Globe, but by how many votes? Maybe, all along, the race has been tighter than we think. Nothing is ever a lock. We must always remember that. In political elections, in competitions - anywhere where a vote of many different people decides the outcome. That is why, when you have the opportunity to make your voice heard, especially through a vote, you should. You could be the deciding vote - you never know.
Saying that Kung Fu Panda never won anything before, so therefore shouldn't have won this, is not a statement that you can really make, unless you have complete figures and percentages to back up your claims. It may have been a horse race all along, with no clear-cut winner. People were so sure that Bruce Springsteen was going to WIN the Oscar for his song in The Wrestler. He wasn't even NOMINATED. I mean, at other awards, he was winning, and now this. You can't take these things for granted. Nothing is set in stone. It all comes down to the vote.
Just remember on Oscar night, there are sure to be some surprises. No one expected The Reader to be up there - it's only just fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 60%. When a race is close, all that you can hope for is that you will come out ahead, and if you don't, it is not fair to say that the other parties did not deserve it at all. There is something called sportsmanship, that I am sure the people at PIXAR remember.
Brad Bird, now an employee of PIXAR, won for The Iron Giant in 1999, beating out A Bug's Life at the 27th Annual Annie Awards. A lot of these animators, and other people involved in production must know each other. Many of them are probably friends. They respect each others work, and I highly doubt all of them are accusing the Annie's of bribing voters. Writing that is libel, and it is not right.
This whole thing is starting to remind me of people arguing that Happy Feet didn't deserve the Oscar for Best Animated, instead of Cars. WALL•E has won many, many awards already. We should remind ourselves of that.
The answer is simple. Every Dreamworks employee is automatically given a free ASIFA membership upon being hired. EVERY employee.
It was stacked, clean and simple.
"Saying that Kung Fu Panda never won anything before, so therefore shouldn't have won this, is not a statement that you can really make, unless you have complete figures and percentages to back up your claims."
It's not just the awards from various associations where we don't know exactly about the figures. Endless Top 10 lists and critics groups point towards WALL-E and KFP at its best is only runner-up, not mentioning Bashir and Bolt. To say the race is so tight (then it had to come up sometime right?) that one vote can decide it can't explain the total sweep in every category. If it's truly the case then I can argue about vote-splitting effects must lead to something else rather than KFP. No, the rise of KFP is just strictly at the Annies.
No one questioned Iron Giant, or Spirited Away, because they're the best of the year, all indicators pointed to that result. It's not that Pixar fans are irrational, I appreciate KFP, but it's not the best of the year, not over WALL-E And Bashir. To snub WALL-E completely in a year it's the best received film, especially earlier without writing and music nominations, brings a lot of questions, of course with ones that care. Billions don't give a damn.
I don't want to start with The Wrestler and The Reader.
"I highly doubt all of them are accusing the Annie's of bribing voters. Writing that is libel, and it is not right."
I don't think they are bought by DWA either, if they think KFP is the best animated film of the year then so be it. But they can't make people believe them or give them any credibility with that choice.
Maybe KFP will go on to win Oscar and BAFTA :D then I'll eat my own words with ketchup.
To be fair, Kung Fu Panda was an excellent film. No where near as good as WALL-e, but still worth some recognition. Fear not, WALL-e will still do fine at the Oscars.
Kung Fu Panda was really good for Dreamworks' slump of poor flicks(Shrek 3 & Bee movie), but Wall-E was so incredibly much better in just about everything. However the character animation in KFP was great,but the story lacked originality, especially compared 2 Wall-E. Boo on you Annie's for this shameful overlooking of Wall-E's brilliance.
kung fu panda was awesome, let it win at least somewhere, cuz wall-e stole all other awards ^^
"This whole thing is starting to remind me of people arguing that Happy Feet didn't deserve the Oscar for Best Animated, instead of Cars."
Cars and Happy Feet were 50/50 that year. Neither is better than the other. They won as many awards as each other, HF had BAFTA and Oscar, while Cars had Annie and Globe. IIRC the Annie win of Cars was a minor controversy.
This year is not like that. KFP won nothing before the Annies. Sorry but for it to wait and show up and sweep everything when a whole year no one cared for is a laughable case. Not just WALL-E but Bashir too, they are way better than KFP, animated or not.
Hard to believe- Wall-E was one of the best and most original films of last year, live or animated. Now that I've seen it close to 10 times with my little son, that is only reinforced. Years from now it will still stand out, I doubt Kung-Fu Panda could say the same.
I'm as shocked as anybody but I bet everyone was expecting Wall-E to win and decided to vote for something else out of sympathy...and it backfired. I'm actually glad that Wall-E didn't take everything as that's what almost always happens with Pixar movies. They're great and I LOVE Wall-E but other animators probably resent this. I bet it was more than DreamWorks people voting for Panda as a way to say "You're not that special!" If only they had done that LAST year. Am I the only one who didn't like Ratatouille? (Probably)
This post has now officially broken the record for most comments. The previous record (31 comments) was held by "This Can't be true. No, it just can't." in November.
It's not that "ZOMG It's Pixar!!! We have to vote for them!!!" Pixar isn't dominating the Annies like Disney in the 1990s. Ghibli, Aardman and DWA all won Annies over the year. When you're the best of the year you should be rightly recognized.
This is not the case. WALL-E is the superb achievement this year and this isn't just one fool's opinion, many thinks so too and in fact have awarded it as it deserves. You can't say "KFP is good too," so it deserves the Best Animated Feature of 2008. It should've gone to WALL-E the REAL best animated film of 2008. To snub it completely, the joke is on the Annies.
And no, KFP is not the second best. It's Bashir. Nor the third. It's $9.99. It's not even that much better than Bolt.
Let's see cute animals + overpaid celebrity actors + conventional plot. We've all seen KFP before in 10,000 other mediocre animated films. It seems like the Annies were holding out hope that Angelina Jolie would show up if they would give her movie some awards. You know what, I think these people obviously have poor taste so it's a compliment that they didn't like Wall-E. Maybe giving it an award would have said it's so/so and conventional!
Oh, and yes you are the only one who didn't like Ratatouille.
Mike: What do you think of Kung Fu Panda personally? When did you last see it?
"... while not going for cheap laughs."
Two Words: "Pizza Plants!"
Also, if a putting a bra on your head isn't an attempt at getting a cheap laugh I don't know what is.
By the way, check out some of the comments on some past posts about Panda on Cartoonbrew.com and you'll see that even some very respected artists at Pixar wanted Panda to win at the Annies.
Anonymous #14: Who wouldn't be excited about Angelina Jolie?!
Anonymous #16: Didn't see it.
Since it won the Annie's, even if you don't think it should have, I think that you should go watch Kung Fu Panda, and post here, on The Pixar Blog, what you thought of it. You can borrow it from your local library, I'm sure, if you want to see it without paying for it.
I am sure we would all like to hear what your thoughts are on the film. Write a play by play of why you think WALL•E is better if you want to, but don't just not watch it, because, then, it looks like you are afraid that it might not be as bad as you think - not as good as WALL•E, but not as bad as you think.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Kung Fu Panda. I know this is The PIXAR Blog, but you did review Bolt. Yes, Bolt is Disney, and Disney owns PIXAR, but if you want to be respected in the world of animation bloggers, you need to see the bigger animated movies of the year - even if you think that this one doesn't look that good.
If you don't like it, I want to hear why not on here. I am really curious.
"...even some very respected artists at Pixar wanted Panda to win at the Annies."
Win maybe, but this? Please. However this happened, no case can be made for WALL-E winning NOTHING.
"...it looks like you are afraid that it might not be as bad as you think...but if you want to be respected in the world of animation bloggers..."
Preachy much? It's his own blog, he doesn't need anonymous people tell him what to do and what to see. Even if he sees it and finds it bad you would accuse him for playing favorite.
If you have that much time use it for something better "if you want to be respected".
"...even some very respected artists at Pixar wanted Panda to win at the Annies."
Not "some" but only one random comment and that comment is bogus at best. There's no way to tell if it's really from him unless he says so himself.
WALL-E is not the second coming but in no way inferior to KFP in EVERY CATEGORY esp. Best Feature like the Annies wanted people to believe when snubbed it TOTALLY like that.
JD: Whoa! Thank-you for your vigorous defence! (laughing)
JD did I say that I loved KFP? No, I just wanted Mike to write what he thinks about it. I am really curious.
And for the record? I LOVE WALL-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But please Mike, I am still curious what you thought about it. I was not saying that I don't respect your website, I was just saying that other people may not like it if you are trashing movies that you haven't seen. I don't care if you hate it, I just wanted to know.
And I was not trying to be preachy, so, sorry if I was misinterpreted. I guess it's true what they say... on the internet, your tone can be misinterpreted. Sorry about that, wasn't trying to be rude...
Now we just have to cross our fingers, and wait for the Oscars. I hope Ben Burtt wins at least one of his nominations...
And, JD, I was just saying what it might look like to others, and I would never accuse someone of playing favorite when they really like something. I have my own preferences too, and I can tell you right now, that I would defend them even if someone accused me of playing favorite. I was just surprised that Mike had not seen Kung Fu Panda. And I did make a point to say that he didn't have to actually buy it.
Wow. The Annies really disgusts me.
Do you think you will hit 50 comments on this one post? 'Cause if so, that's impressive man, very impressive indeed. Ahh. Controversy. It sure gets people talking, right?
Just did!
51!
Kung Fu Panda??? Pah.
Keep the comments coming!
Why KFP won. (Only the categories against Wall-E)
Effects: Meefo pointed out some nice points. Perhaps if the voters had been aware of what to look for, they might have voted differently. Also vote split to Bolt.
Character Animation: Vote was against Wall-E for thinking a robot without squash-stretch is easier to animate. And James Baxter is highly talented. Also note this is the only 2-D animation nominated.
Production Design: Not my choice (Tale of D) but KFP was beautiful to look at versus dirty or stark locales. Also some split from Bolt.
Storyboarding: Again, the only 2-D nominee won. The voting audience of animators apparently wants to see good ol’ animation. Also possible split with Bolt.
Voice Acting: Mark Walton should have won, but vote was split with Ben Burtt. Hoffman was a good 3rd choice.
Directing: I don’t believe voters were fully aware of what Stanton brought to Wall-E. They were also turned off by the split personality of the story. Given three somewhat depressing films, and an entertaining cartoon they chose the cartoon. No one saw Tales of D.
Feature: Same thing, plus some split vote from Bolt.
These may not be the correct choices, but there are justifications for each. Several years ago, one of the nominated studios (possibly Pixar) sent voters an info sheet that pointed out the timecode and scenes that highlighted each of their nominees. This was tremendously helpful and should be done each year.
To those who think DreamWorks bought the award, no. Disney has won five times, Pixar has won five times, DreamWorks has won twice, three times if you count Wallace & Gromit as DWA (which I don’t). And three times by other studios. Complaining about a loss with those statistics makes Pixar look like a spoiled child who had his lollipop taken away. Wall-E will get the Oscar. Not bad consolation.
The Annie awards are voted on by members of ASIFA. You can buy membership for $50. DreamWorks buys each of it’s 1200 employees a membership and requires that they vote for the Annies.
DreamWorks also make sure to have as many as possible Chairs on the nomination committee - which explains why three DreamWorks artists were nomintated in the ‘best animation’ category and only two other studios received mention.
The Annies will no longer reflect the true measure of industry excellence any more. The audience at the Awards ceremony was greatly saddened by the DreamWorks presence and manipulation of the once joyful event.
Pixar showed up to be gracious - they already knew they were shut out.
To those who think DreamWorks bought the award, no. Disney has won five times, Pixar has won five times, DreamWorks has won twice, three times if you count Wallace & Gromit as DWA (which I don’t).
No, I don't think anyone bought the Annies. And yes, over the years it's Disney/Pixar almost monopoly. But it really has nothing to do with this year's awards if you really judge the year based on what really happened. It's not like WALL-E is A Bug's Life 2. What is so technically special about KFP that doesn't exist in Horton and Madagascar 2?
WALL-E maybe the closest in years something can break out of the animated ghetto and make people actually respect the medium/genre, and it split votes with Bolt, not mentioning some nomination snubs? I truly think no one cares for Bolt, same as Bashir and $9.99, which is a shame. The majority of ASIFA-Hollywood made it into KFP vs. WALL-E and they choose KFP because "it deserves more" and "industry insiders know better" and whatever.
Once the award season ends, we'll know the biggest joke. Hopefully the Pixar fanboys. /snarks
"JD did I say that I loved KFP? No, I just wanted Mike to write what he thinks about it. I am really curious."
I'm sorry for being rude. Anyway it's Mike's business and I would respect him as the owner of the place we're chitchatting at.
And I like KFP.
JD - I accept your apology, I did like Kung Fu Panda too, but I also liked WALL•E. I just like seeing movies before I judge them, and was hoping that maybe Mike would do the same.
Not only did DW buy these awards, but they spent $9 million on that MvA 3d SuperBowl spot on Sunday.
UNBELIEVABLE!
IT'S NOT FAIR AT ALL...
WALL.E IS FAR MORE BETTER THAN KFP!
KFP was good too...but 13 awards is a lot!
WAll.E should won some annies!
I'm sure it will be won the Oscar!
IF NOT.....*BEEP*
Hmmm, after all that I still say that it's madness.
WALL-E for the Oscars, and let us not mention the 'Dreamworks Awards' - oh sorry, the Annies - again.
P.S. 60th comment!!!!
My God, some of you people sound like children. "it's not fair!" " WallE was Better than KFP!" "It was stacked, clean and simple.".
You guys argue that "1 in 4 people voting are dreamworks employees" and that "Every dreamworks employee gets an ASIFA membership"...Guess what? Alot of the major studios give out free memberships. That's how I got mine
Where's your data to show that 1 in 4 voting are DW employees? Where's your data to show how each individual employee voted...oh wait you wouldn't know b/c that info isn't available.
It's so sad how you guys argue whine about how the Annies are a sham and that it's rigged just because your favorite didn't win. You're basing alot of your "truths" on subjective opinions. Just because you loved WallE, doesn't mean the guy next to you did....and obviously the majority felt that KFP was indeed better
How about having some grace and dignity instead of spreading conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and dragging the ANNies through the mud because YOUR favorite didn't win. Grow up.
We're all just trying to explain something that baffles us... and yes, in this case I freely admit to being a sore loser. My attitude is no reflection at all on the guys at Pixar, whom I'm sure reacted with their usual grace - I just needed to express my own puzzlement at this result, as I'm sure did many of us. We're all entitled to our own opinion.
If it came out as a whinge put it down to shock, but I stand by my personal feelings on this year's Annie awards and would like to thank Mike for giving us this forum to share our views.
(Time to stop typing now!)
@ "Fatty":
I haven't seen KFP, so I can't make a judgment, but I can say that WALL-E has won Best Picture among groups like the Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles Film Critic Societies. That's best picture--of any medium. I'm afraid Kung Fu Panda was not mentioned for any of those awards.
I respect your opinion, but for heaven's sake, you're on the Pixar blog.
Everyone who has not seen Kung Fu Panda, please see it. You may not like it even if you see it, but I thought that it was quite good, and I love WALL•E.
It is not full of pop-culture references, or childish potty humour. It actually stays true to where it is supposed to be based - a valley in China, that does not have 21st century pop-culture products.
The animation is quite good, and the landscape shots are nice to look at. There is a fight on a rope-bridge that has great cinematography, and was amazing to look at in theatres. Don't get me wrong, WALL•E had amazing cinematography too. But it is ok, as a fan of animation, to like more than one thing in a year. Could I say that I only like one of the movies nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars? No, most of them really deserve to be there... (I think maybe another movie should have been there instead of The Reader, but that's just my opinion).
Kung Fu Panda has a well-written story too. The screenplay was very well done - I have read it, as well as the WALL•E one. I like them both, but differently. While WALL•E was not nominated for screenplay here, it is at the Oscars. It is a very different screenplay to read, in a way, due to the lack of conventional dialogue. You should check it out. All of the For Your Consideration screenplays are on the company's respective Award sites. Just Google it. (These were put up, back at short-listing time for the Oscars.)
The voice-acting in Kung Fu Panda is also solid, and I am glad that it was recognized for that. As for Ben Burtt, well, that was an amazing sound editing/mixing feat - not voice acting, and I am glad for that very reason that he is nominated in those two categories at the Oscars. The best of luck to him, and all of the other nominees, as we approach these next upcoming awards.
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