Hayao Miyazaki had the honor of winning an Annie Award for Writing in An Animated Feature Production for his latest film The Wind Rises last night. The Annie Awards, now in it's 41st year, are for the field of animation and the award ceremony was held at UCLA's Royce Hall to a crowd of animators of the highest order. The presenters announced Miyazaki's name and the audience awaited him to approach the stage or a least someone to accept the award on his behalf. Nobody did and no words explaining his absence were given. Touchstone Pictures which released the film here in North America has yet to be reached for comment.
Another notable award, The Windsor McCay Award, was given to none other than Katsuhiro Otomo of "Akira" fame. He came all the way from Japan to accept the award which he took as a great honor promising to continue make great content on stage when accepting it. He had a standing ovation audience when he first came on stage.
