Daytime Emmy Winners for Animation Revealed

December 9 2020

The winners in the category of individual achievements in animation for this year's Daytime Emmy Awards have finally been announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), crowning six talented artists working on five popular series (three of which are the original Netflix cartoons). The announcement was postponed for several months due to the pandemic, which brought down plans to conduct an in-person assessment of the record number of introductions this spring.

“Today, at our Daytime Emmy Awards, we proudly honor the outstanding professionals who make up the individual achievement in the animation category,” said Adam Sharp, NATAS President and CEO. "As we continue to take up the challenge of honoring our Emmy Award recipients during COVID-19, we happily celebrate these talented people who bring us the wonder of children's animation programming in these troubled times."

The category has historically been judged by an in-person jury who viewed and rated artwork, videos and other documentation. Initially scheduled for March, the trial was initially postponed due to COVID-19. Over time it was finally decided that the award could be completed via an online process. The judges virtually viewed and rated the materials, discussed the highlights of each presentation and picked six winners this year.

“The animation community was again impressed with the high quality of the contributions and we were thrilled that the evaluation process could be accomplished in a new evaluation environment,” said Brent Stanton, Executive Director, Daytime.

This year, the Daytime Emmys received a record number of nominations in the category of individual achievements in animation. In this jury award, work was presented by art directors, storyboard artists, background designers, painters, character designers and animators.

The winners are:

Olivia Ceballos, Visual Development Artist | Troll: the rhythm continues! (Netflix)

Savelen Forrest, Character Animator | tumble leaf (Amazon Prime Videos)

Wei Li, storyboard artist | Carmen Sandiego (Netflix)

Sylvia Liu, artistic director | Carmen Sandiego (Netflix)

Steve Lowtwait, Wallpaper Designer | Big City Green (Disney Channel)

Chris O'Hara, Character Animator | Ask the StoryBots (Netflix)

NATAS is also gearing up for next year's 49th Daytime Emmy Awards. The recently set timeline is:

Call for Entries: Wednesday 6 January 2021

Final deadline for registration: Wednesday 17 February 2021

Nominations announced: May / June 2021

Virtual ceremonies: June / July 2021