 At the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards in 2012 , Bumpass was nominated for his vocal performance as Squidward in the Outstanding Performer in the Animated Program category — the first cast member to be nominated in this category . The award was won by June Foray of The Garfield Show . Bumpass has said he was proud of the certificate he received for the nomination , but " there wasn 't really a competition because one of the other nominees was June Foray and she is royalty in the animation world ... There was no way any of the other three guys had a chance . In fact , if any of us had one , there would have been a riot in that studio [ The Beverly Hilton ] . " He said he was " happy to lose to June Foray " and " very pleased and grateful to get a nomination " . 
