Man, this is a complete surprise. The Annie Awards, the ceremony that honors the best in animation from the past twelve months, was held over the weekend and this complete underdog movie, this little-known tale about three Korean girls who have to sing and perform to solidify a cosmic net over an underworld of monsters, somehow pulled ahead against all odds! Imagine that.
KPop Demon Hunters was nominated for ten Annies and it won every single one of them: Best FX, Character Animation, Character Design, Direction, Music, Production Design, Voice Acting, Writing, Editorial…and the coveted Best Picture. You could call it a pattern, but it’s the kind you WANT to see.
Is it typical for one picture to sweep the Annies like this? Actually, yes. Last year was dominated by The Wild Robot, which took home nine Annies, and the year before that was owned by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which got seven. Independent animated movies have their own separate category, and the winner this year was Arco.
In terms of television, Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects was the leader, but not as dramatically, with four awards for Best TV Series for adults, Best Direction, Writing and Editorial. Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots and Pixar’s Win Or Lose each got three awards. The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball received Best TV Series for children, while Wow Lisa was declared the Best TV Series for preschoolers.
The full list of winners for the 2026 Annie Awards is listed below.
BEST FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT
Arco
Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
BEST SHORT SUBJECT
Snow Bear
The Art of Aaron Blaise
BEST SPONSORED
Olipop Yeti
Screen Novelties & Passion Pictures
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
Wow Lisa
Episode: Rainy Day
Punkrobot
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball
Episode: The Rewrite
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE
Common Side Effects
Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES
Win Or Lose
Episode: Home
Pixar Animation Studios
BEST STUDENT FILM
A Sparrow’s Song
Tobias Eckerlin
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
BEST FX – TV/MEDIA
Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
Episode: The Big Freeze
BBC Studios Natural History Unit
FX: Framestore
BEST FX – FEATURE
Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
FX: Sony Pictures Imageworks
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA
Alli Sadegiani
Win Or Lose
Pixar Animation Studios
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
Ryusuke Furuya
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi
How to Train Your Dragon
DreamWorks Animation
FX: Framestore
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME
Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond
South of Midnight
Compulsion Games
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Robert Valley
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: 400 Boys
Blur Studio for Netflix
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
Vincent Tsui
Common Side Effects
Episode: Cliff’s Edge
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
Ramin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny Pakfar
Win Or Lose
Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals
Pixar Animation Studios
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Gigi Cavenago
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
Blur Studio for Netflix
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA
Edgar Martins
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
Blur Studio for Netflix
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE
Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon
The Bad Guys 2
DreamWorks Animation
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
Dan Mintz (as Tina Belcher)
Bob’s Burgers
Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy
20th Television Animation
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
Arden Cho (as Rumi)
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA
Joe Bennett, Steve Hely
Common Side Effects
Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST WRITING – FEATURE
Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim
Common Side Effects
Episode: Raid
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
