Emmy announces winners in juried categories

The 59th annual Emmy Awards for prime-time programming are still weeks away, but the first winners were announced Tuesday. Don’t look to them for handicapping the big awards later, though: The 11 recipients represent 11 different programs on five networks.

The winners came in what the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences calls its juried categories, which differ from the other Emmy competitions because there are no nominations; judges look for individual excellence and may choose one winner, many winners or no winners at all.

This year they did one of each.

In the category of costumes for a variety/music program or special, the Emmy went to Colleen Atwood (costume designer) and Kendall Errair (wardrobe supervisor) for NBC’s “Tony Bennett: An American Classic.”

For individual achievement in animation, the judges selected Sang-Jin Kim (animator) for Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender”; Sihanouk Mariona (animator) for Cartoon Network’s “Moral Orel”; Thomas Smith (animator) for Cartoon Network’s “Robot Chicken”; Sue Mondt (art director) for Cartoon Network’s “Camp Lazlo”; Dave Dunnet (background key designer) for Cartoon Network’s “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”; Narina Sokolova (background painter) for Cartoon Network’s “My Gym Partner’s a Monkey”; David Colman (character designer) for Cartoon Network’s “Class of 3000”; Phil Rynda (character designer) for Cartoon Network’s “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy”; James McDermott (character designer) for Starz Kids & Family’s “Eloise”; and Steve Fonti (storyboard artist) for Fox’s “Family Guy.”

There were no awards given in the category of voice-over performance. Performers from Fox’s “The Simpsons” have often been honored in this category in the past.

The awards will be presented in the first round of the Emmy Awards, for creative arts categories, on Sept. 8. The second ceremony -- televised on Fox and presenting the awards for best shows and actors -- is scheduled Sept. 16 at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.

lee.margulies@latimes.com