When the end of the year came and it was time to put together our lists of the best of 2008, I had a hard time deciding which was a better movie - Wall-E or Kung Fu Panda. Eventually I went with Wall-E because I decided the story stayed with me a bit more, but both are excellent films. The International Animated Film Industry also agrees both are excellent films, having nominated them for quite a few of their annual awards. In the end, Kung Fu Panda went home with more Annie awards, completely shutting out Wall-E from winning anything.

The two movies went head to head in eight categories, with Kung Fu Panda sweeping all of them. The animated movie from Dreamworks went on to win a total of ten awards over the course of the awards presentation, given out Friday night. Add on top of that four awards scored by Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five and you’ve got quite a night for Dreamworks.

I was really expecting Wall-E to score the Best Animated Picture category at the Oscars as a consolation for it not getting the Best Picture nomination, that Disney was actively pursuing. Now, seeing Disney/Pixar go home empty handed for their accomplishments on Wall-E, I have to wonder if that will still be the case.

Rumors abound about the outcome of the awards ceremony, with several sources running rumors that the outcome could have been influenced by Dreamworks’ sponsorship of the event (see a response to that at AICN, as well as a solid theory on why Po took home the awards the little robot was expected to receive). These kinds of theories always abound when the unexpected happens. Bottom line: Kung Fu Panda took home the gold last night, and I won’t even try to say it’s not a worthy movie, especially since I’ve been singing its praises since it caught me unawares in theaters. Good luck to both Pixar/Disney and Dreamworks when the Oscars roll around.

Here’s the list of winners from this year’s Annie Awards. For a full list of nominees, click over to Annie Awards.com, the official site for the International Animation Film Society.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES
Best Animated Feature - Kung Fu Panda
Best Animated Home Entertainment Production - Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs
Best Animated Short Subject - Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Best Animated Television Commercial - United Airlines “Heart”
Best Animated Television Production - Robot Chicken “Star Wars Episode II”
Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children - Avatar: The Last Airbender
Best Animated Video Game - Kung Fu Panda

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES
Animated Effects - Li-Ming Lawrence Lee Kung Fu Panda
Character Animation in a Feature Production - James Baxter Kung Fu Panda
Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form - Pierre Perifel Secrets of the Furious Five
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production - Nico Marlet Kung Fu Panda
Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Nico Marlet Secrets of the Furious Five
Directing in an Animated Feature Production - John Stevenson & Mark Osborne Kung Fu Panda
Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Joaquim Dos Santos – Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3”
Music in an Animated Feature Production - Hans Zimmer & John Powell – Kung Fu Panda
Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell – Secrets of the Furious Five
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production - Tang Heng Kung Fu Panda
Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Tang Heng - Secrets of the Furious Five
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production - Jen Yuh Nelson – Kung Fu Panda
Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - - Chris Williams Glago’s Guest
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production - Dustin Hoffman – Voice of Shifu – Kung Fu Panda
Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Ahmed Best – Voice of Jar Jar Binks – Robot Chicken “Star Wars Episode II”
Writing in an Animated Feature Production - Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger – Kung Fu Panda
Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells, Breckin Meyer – Robot Chicken “Star Wars Episode II”

JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay recipients - Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation
June Foray award - Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation
Certificate of Merit award - Amir Avni, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev