KPop Demon Hunters Dominates 53rd Annie Awards with 10 Wins

The 53rd annual Annie Awards celebrated the year's best in animation, with Netflix’s "KPop Demon Hunters" emerging as the night's biggest winner, securing a remarkable 10 awards. The critically acclaimed film swept every category it was nominated in, including the highly coveted Best Feature honor.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans were recognized for Best Direction, while Arden Cho earned Best Voice Acting for her portrayal of Rumi. Beyond these top accolades, "KPop Demon Hunters" also collected trophies for Production Design, Music, Writing, Character Design, Character Animation, FX, and Editorial. Its widespread appeal is evident, boasting over 482 million views and a soundtrack streamed approximately 11 billion times.

Other Feature Film Highlights

While "KPop Demon Hunters" reigned supreme, other nominated features had mixed fortunes. Disney/Pixar’s "Elio" went home empty-handed despite receiving 10 nominations. Similarly, Walt Disney Studios’ "Zootopia 2" concluded the evening without any awards.

DreamWorks Animation’s "The Bad Guys 2" secured one trophy, winning Best Storyboarding for a Feature.

Independent Feature & Oscar Outlook

In the independent categories, Neon’s sci-fi/fantasy film "Acro" was honored with Best Feature – Independent. "Acro" gained early acclaim at Cannes and is currently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Historically, the Annie Awards can be a strong predictor for the Oscars. Since the inception of the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002, 14 of 23 Annie's Best Feature winners have gone on to claim the Academy Award. However, this correlation isn't absolute; last year, the Oscar went to "Flow," notably not "The Wild Robot," which had led the 2025 Annies with seven nominations.

Television and Media Achievements

The television and media categories also saw significant recognition. Netflix’s "Love, Death + Robots" added three more Annie Awards to its impressive tally, now holding 11 Annie wins and 17 Emmy wins.

Pixar’s debut longform animated series, "Win or Lose," also secured three awards, matching the success of Adult Swim’s "Common Side Effects," which also won three times. Individual talent was celebrated with Dan Mintz winning Best Voice Acting for TV/Media for his role as Tina Belcher in Fox’s "Bob’s Burgers." Hulu’s "The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode" was also among the winners.

Special & Juried Awards

The Annie Awards also honored individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to the animation community:

June Foray Award: Sandy Rabins was recognized for founding AnimAID, an initiative that raised nearly $700,000 to assist animation industry members impacted by the L.A. Wildfires.
Winsor McCay Awards (Lifetime Achievement): This year's recipients include Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, Michaël Dudok de Wit, and Chris Sanders.
Ub Iwerks Award (Technical Achievement): Awarded to Wacom.
Special Achievement Award: Presented to LightBox Expo.

Complete List of Winners (2026 Annie Awards)

Here is the full list of winners from the 53rd annual 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 (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans)
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA: Common Side Effects Episode: Cliff’s Edge (Vincent Tsui)
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE: The Bad Guys 2 (Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon)
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA: Love, Death + Robots Episode: How Zeke Got Religion (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
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN: The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode: The Rewrite
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL: Wow Lisa Episode: Rainy Day
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA: Common Side Effects Episode: Pilot (Joe Bennett, Steve Hely)
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Arden Cho as Rumi)
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA: Bob’s Burgers Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy (Dan Mintz as Tina Belcher)
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA: Common Side Effects Episode: Raid (Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim)
BEST FX – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Lewis, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle)
BEST FX – TV/MEDIA: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age Episode: The Big Freeze (Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Shuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian)
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Ryusuke Furuya)
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV MEDIA: Win or Lose (Alli Sadegiana)
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION: How To Train Your Dragon (Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi)
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME: South of Midnight (Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond)
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson)
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA: Love, Death + Robots Episode: 400 Boys
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA: Win Or Lose Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals (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 (Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA: Love, Death + Robots Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
BEST SHORT SUBJECT: Snow Bear (The Art of Aaron Blaise)
BEST STUDENT FILM: A Sparrow’s Song (Tobias Eckerlin)