Meta: June Foray Award

Tonight was the 34th Annual Annie Awards. I was honored to receive the June Foray Award for a significant benevolent impact on the art of animation. The award was presented by the great lady herself, June Foray.

Here is the text of my acceptance speech...

In 1973, Eric Larson, one of Disney's Nine Old Men, announced to the studio that he was setting down his pencil for good. He saw the great accomplishments of his generation of animators slipping away, and knew that the art of animation needed his help. Instead of taking advantage of a well-deserved retirement like most of his peers, he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to training and developing young animators.

His story is kind of a cross between Noah's Ark and The Wise Little Hen. For the next fifteen years- during the dark ages of the 1970s, he set to work building the foundation for the recent wave of animation. He didn't get discouraged, he stuck with it until the end. He passed away in 1988. By then, his job was done. The torch had been passed.

Many of the people you see on this stage tonight owe their first break in the animation business to Larson's training program... Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, Brad Bird, John Lassiter... They all use the knowledge Larson generously passed on to them every single day of their career. Eric Larson may not be the first name you think of when you think of the Nine Old Men, but he's the one who ultimately had the greatest impact on the art of animation.

It's doubtful that we'll ever see the likes of Larson's training program again. No major animation studio is interested in devoting their resources to such a forward thinking idea like this. The artform is the same, the raw talent is still out there, but the business is very, very different. Today. if young artists want to grow and develop and hone their skills, they need to do it on their own.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is dedicated to following in Larson's footsteps, providing invaluable support to the animators of the future. Now, I'm no Eric Larson- I can't do it single-handedly the way he did. But I can facilitate gathering together the experience, knowledge and teamwork it'll take to take animation to the next level.

Ralph Bakshi once told me... "STEVIE! If you're able to make a living drawing cartoons, you're the luckiest guy in the world. You owe for that... You've gotta give back to the muse." Ralph is right. We owe it to the people who came before us, like Eric Larson and the hundreds and hundreds of other legendary animators who took time out of their busy schedules to give a green assistant a drawing lesson, or offer a few words of advice and encouragement to a student. I know I have a list a mile long of people who helped me when I was just starting out. I'm sure all of you do too.

ASIFA-Hollywood is giving all of us the opportunity to give back and build the foundation for the next wave of animation. We need your help. I want you to know I appreciate this honor. I can't think of an award I would rather have than the one with June Foray's name on it. She's at the top of my list.

Many thanks to the people at the event who offered words of encouragement. A special thanks to my hero and friend, June.

See also... List of 2006 Annie Award Winners and 2006 Annie Awards Photos

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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