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'Lilo & Stitch' nominated for 10 Annies

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- "Lilo & Stitch" may have established itself as a favorite for the best animated-film Oscar, with 10 Annie Award nominations from ASIFA-Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society.

The Disney comedy about a 5-year-old Hawaiian girl who befriends a space alien was nominated for outstanding theatrical feature, directing, writing, production design and character design, and picked up two nominations for effects animation.

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"Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" and "Monsters, Inc." had eight nominations each, including best feature nominations for both. "Spirit" -- a DreamWorks picture about the adventures of a wild stallion in the untamed American West -- is expected to contend for the second-ever best animated feature Oscar. The movie picked up all three nominations for storyboarding in an animated feature production.

"Monsters, Inc." has already had its shot at Oscar gold as one of the nominees last year, when "Shrek" won the first animated feature Oscar in Academy Awards history.

"Ice Age" -- a 20th Century Fox tale about a sloth, a woolly mammoth and a saber-toothed tiger searching for a missing human baby -- picked up seven Annie nominations, including best feature.

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Disney's "Treasure Planet" -- an animated take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic "Treasure Island" -- also had seven nominations, but somehow was left out of the best feature competition.

"Miyazaki's Spirited Away" -- one of the year's most highly-regarded animated features -- received just four nominations, including one for the top feature film prize.

"Disney's Kim Possible," "The Flintstones on the Rocks," "Futurama," "Invader Zim" and "The Simpsons" were nominated for outstanding animated TV production.

"Land Before Time: Journey to Big Water," "Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun" and "VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas" were nominated for best animated home video production. "Night of the Living Doo," "The Groovenians" and "The Tortoise and the Hare" were nominated for best animated short subject.

ASIFA-Hollywood also announced that Gerry Miller will receive the June Foray Award, presented for "significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation." The award is named after the veteran voiceover artist who starred as Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Granny in the Warner Bros. "Sylvester and Tweety" cartoons.

Gene Hazelton, Floyd Norman, Robert and Richard Sherman will receive the Winsor McCay Award, presented for lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation. The award is named for the man who created "Gertie the Dinosaur," widely regarded as the first important animated cartoon.

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The Sherman brothers are best known for the music they contributed to countless Disney movies, including the Oscar-winning score and song "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from "Mary Poppins" (1964).

Lou Scheimer -- the veteran producer of such animated TV shows as "The New Adventures of Tom and Jerry" "The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour" and "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," will receive a Special Achievement Annie for service to the American animation industry.

The 30th annual Annie Awards will be presented on Feb. 1 in Glendale, Calif.

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