According to Variety, ASIFA’s annual Annie Awards, celebrating the best of the animation industry, just announced its nominations.  “Kung Fu Panda” jetted to the top with 17 nominations.  Behind that are “Bolt”, “Wall-E”, “Waltz with Bashir”, and “9.99″ in the best feature category.

Nickelodeon nabbed the most nominations in the TV category with 12 noms total, including a duo of nods for best children’s animated series for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Mighty B!”

Contenders in the best animated productions for TV category include 20th Century Fox’s “King of the Hill,” ShadowMachine’s “Moral Orel” and “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II,” Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” and Gracie Films/Fox TV’s “The Simpsons.”

Electronic Arts “Dead Space,” Activision’s adaptation of “Kung Fu Panda” and Heavy Iron Studios’ gamer version of “Wall-E” were nominated in the vidgame category.

Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park are the 2008 Winsor McCay recipients, which honors career contributions to the art of animation.

The Annie Awards will be held on January 20th in UCLA’s Royce Hall.