KPop takes the spotlight at the Annies.
The 53rd Annual Annie Awards saw Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters sweep the event, securing victories in all 10 categories it was nominated for, including Best Feature, Best Direction by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, and Best Voice Acting by Arden Cho as Rumi. This triumph positions it as a leading contender for next month’s Animated Feature Oscar.
Below is the complete list of winners across movies, television, video games, and more.
KPop Demon Hunters began the evening by winning the first film award for Production Design and continued its winning streak with the Best Music award. It later clinched awards for Best Writing, Character Design, Character Animation, FX, and Editorial. The film, a massive hit, has been viewed over 482 million times, and its soundtrack boasts approximately 11 billion streams.
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Disney/Pixar’s Elio, also with 10 nominations, unfortunately did not win any awards. Even in categories not dominated by KPop, such as Storyboarding, the award went to DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys. Likewise, Zootopia 2 from Walt Disney Studios, despite being the highest-grossing Hollywood animated film of all time, did not secure any awards that night.
Best Feature – Independent was awarded to Neon’s sci-fi/fantasy Acro, which debuted at Cannes and is also nominated for the Animated Feature Oscar, competing against KPop Demon Hunters, Zootopia 2, Elio, and Gkids’ Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.
Historically, 14 of the 23 Annie’s marquee Best Feature winners since the category’s inception in 2002 have gone on to win the Oscar. However, last year was an exception when the Academy Award went to Flow instead of The Wild Robot, which had taken home seven Annie Awards in 2025.
On the television side, Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots won the first two awards of the night and later added a third, bringing its total Annie count to 11, in addition to 17 Emmy Awards. Pixar’s Win or Lose, and Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects each took home three awards. Other TV accolades included a win for Dan Mintz from Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and Hulu’s The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode.
The evening’s initial Juried Award, The June Foray Award, was presented to Sandy Rabins, an animation and live-action producer who founded AnimAID to aid those in the animation industry affected by the L.A. Wildfires. So far, the initiative has raised nearly $700,000. This award, named after the founder of the Annie Awards, honors individuals who have positively impacted the animation industry.
The first of three Winsor McCay Awards for lifetime achievement went to acclaimed filmmakers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord of the Spider-Verse and Lego Movie franchises. The second was given to Michaël Dudok de Wit, an Oscar-winning animator, writer, and director known for The Red Turtle and the short film Father and Daughter. The final McCay Award went to Chris Sanders, a four-time Oscar-nominated animation wizard and voice actor, recognized for his work in The Wild Robot last year, among others. Tea Carerre, his co-star from Lilo & Stitch, presented the awards.
Wacom, known for its Cintiq graphics tablets, received the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement.
The Special Achievement Award from ASIFA-Hollywood went to LightBox Expo, an annual gathering that connects the animation community of filmmakers with students and fans.
Below are the juried award winners.
ASIFA-Hollywood recently announced the Animation Educators’ Forum Hall of Fame Class of 2026, including Elmer Plummer, Doug Crane, Harry Love, Harold Whitaker, and Nancy Beiman.
Founded in 1972 by veteran voice actor June Foray, the Annie Awards honor the most talented artists and storytellers in the animation industry.
Here are the winners at the 2026 Annie Awards:
BEST FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT
Arco
Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
Common Side Effects Episode: Cliff’s Edge
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
Vincent Tsui
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE
The Bad Guys 2
DreamWorks Animation
Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA
Love, Death + Robots Episode: How Zeke Got Religion Blur Studio for Netflix
Edgar Martins
BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES
Win Or Lose
Episode: Episode 8: Home
Pixar Animation Studios
BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE
Common Side Effects Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode: The Rewrite
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
Wow Lisa
Episode: Rainy Day
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA
Common Side Effects Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
Joe Bennett, Steve Hely
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Arden Cho (Character: Rumi)
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
Bob’s Burgers
Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy
20th TV
Dan Mintz (Character: Tina Belcher)
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
Common Side Effects Episode: Raid
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim
BEST FX – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Production Company: Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks
Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Lewis, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle
BEST FX – TV/MEDIA
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age Episode: The Big Freeze
Production Company: BBC Studios Natural History Unit
FX Production Company: Framestore
Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Shuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix
Ryusuke Furuya
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV MEDIA
Win or Lose
Pixar Animation Studios
Alli Sadegiana
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
How To Train Your Dragon
Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
FX Production Company: Framestore
Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME
South of Midnight
Compulsion Games
Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Love, Death + Robots Episode: 400 Boys
Blur Studio for Netflix
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
Win Or Lose
Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals
Pixar Animation Studios
Ramin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny Pakfar
BEST SPONSORED
Olipop Yeti
Screen Novelties & Passion Pictures
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
Blur Studio for Netflix
BEST SHORT SUBJECT
Snow Bear
The Art of Aaron Blaise
BEST STUDENT FILM
A Sparrow’s Song
Student director: Tobias Eckerlin
Student producer: Tobias Eckerlin
School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay Award
Michaël Dudok de Wit
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord
Chris Sanders
June Foray Award
Sandy Rabins
Ub Iwerks Award
Wacom
Special Achievement Award
LightBox Expo
ASIFA-Hollywood Merit Award
Jeffrey New
Haley Mirren Douthit
