This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter.

On March 12 of 2022, the Annie Awards will go live via a virtual presentation and will reveal their category winners for this year in animation. The Annie Awards often try to feature the best of the best in animation on both the cinematic and small screens. They have been seemingly controversial in the past, creating Academy Award upsets which had sparked year-long boycotts by one or two of the major animation companies. But if any awards ceremony should be boycotted this year, that honor goes to the Oscars.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had a slight uproar during the planning of announcements as they demoted many animation awards along with other behind-the-scenes recognitions to before the televised broadcast. This is a real kerfuffle because everyone knows that during this time people will just be gossiping about which dress looked better on who. Although, let’s be honest, those fashion reporters were probably writing up their opinions even when these awards were on television. This kerfuffle was brought to my attention because it was announced that sound engineer Tom Fleischman would resign from the Academy over his outrage. Of course, I had no idea who Fleischman was, but since the “Oscars” was mentioned, this story is on my radar.

The Annies, brought to you by the LA branch of the International Animated Film Association, are a different accolades banquet, but the incident at the Academy also affects them due to the possible global name recognition it can bring to films featured at both ceremonies.

Disclosure: You may notice a number of animations on this list that are foriegn-created, BIPOC-created, female-created and more. Industry experts can show appreciation with annual skill awards, but audiences can also miss movies and tv shows that are worthwhile, and I am certainly one of them.

My “I SHOULD REALLY WATCH THESE” List:

Cats Don’t Dance

The Road to El Dorado

The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales